Forty prisoners have tested positive for COVID-19 in Myanmar’s Insein jail where some of the thousands of anti-coup protesters who have been arrested by the junta are being held, BBC Burmese language news reported on Thursday, citing a prison official, Reuters reported.

A spokesman for Insein jail in Yangon did not answer calls from Reuters seeking comment on the report.

Authorities at the colonial-era jail have stopped sending prisoners to attend court hearings either at a special facility inside the jail or to courts in the city, Zayar Lwin, an activist and former political prisoner who was freed from Insein in April, told Reuters.