COVID 19 testing rates plummet

14 April 2021
COVID 19 testing rates plummet

Mizzima

Aid groups say Myanmar’s efforts to contain the novel coronavirus have been crumbling since a Feb. 1 coup that has plunged parts of the country into chaos, raising fears of a third wave of infections, with  thousands of doctors and nurses have walked off the job to join the protests, VOA reported.

The U.N.’s acting resident country coordinator, Andrew Kirkwood, told reporters in a virtual press conference last month that Myanmar’s health system “has practically collapsed” and that “nearly all COVID-19 testing and treatment has halted.”

The head of the Health Ministry’s emerging infectious diseases unit, Khin Khin Gyi, rejected forecasts of an impending collapse while speaking with VOA last week. However, she confirmed that daily testing rates have plummeted, from as many as 25,000 a day before the coup to 2,000 at best now