Myanmar receives 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine donated by China

Bangkok, May 3 (EFE).- Myanmar has received half a million doses Covid-19 vaccines sent by China, following the situation of instability as the Feb. 1 coup threatens efforts to contain the pandemic.

The doses arrived Sunday at Yangon airport on a flight chartered by Air China, the Chinese embassy in Myanmar reported on Facebook.

It said this shipment is due to an aid commitment made at the beginning of the year, prior to the military uprising that ended Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government.

The refusal of health personnel to work for the military junta has led to the closure of 60 percent of the country’s hospitals, according to figures from the civil disobedience movement.

Authorities have issued arrest warrants for hundreds of health workers, while the official daily newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar published 20 new names and photos of wanted doctors and nurses.

In April, the International Federation of the Red Cross said political instability in the country “poses a threat to efforts to contain the pandemic.”

Since the coup, the detection of new cases has plummeted and the true state of the pandemic in the country of 54 million inhabitants is unknown.

As for the vaccine, according to official data from Apr. 1, the first dose has been given to more than 1 million people and only 40,000 people have received both.

Myanmar has detected more than 142,830 Covid-19 cases, including 3,209 deaths, according to the latest data from the Health Ministry. EFE

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