Myanmar confirms its first cases of COVID-19 yesterday (23 March), both of which were imported.
The country’s Health and Sports Ministry on Tue confirmed that the two cases are a 36-year-old Myanmar man — a US green card holder who had just returned from the said country — and a 26-year-old Myanmar man who had returned from England.
Both men, according to the ministry, had attempted to circumvent travel bans in the respective countries.
The Myanmar National Health Laboratory released its COVID-19 testing results on Mon, which will be sent to a WHO-accredited laboratory in Thailand today.
The patient who returned from the UK had arrived in Yangon on Sun. He was subsequently quarantined in Hlegu and subsequently moved to Hmawbi, where he tested positive for COVID-19. Currently, he is warded in a special isolation ward in Wabargyi Hospital.
The patient who returned from the US arrived in Yangon on 13 Mar and experienced fever a week after. He is now placed under isolation at the Tedim township’s General Hospital in Chin State.
“We will investigate all the people who were in close contact with these two men,” said the Health Ministry.
