A COVID-19 Special Rescue Team was set up on April 9 in Myanmar to fight against the spread of the COVID-19 virus which has been declared by the World Health Organization as a pandemic.

The special unit will help the Myanmar government and health workers in containing the spread of coronavirus. 

Team chairman Tun Tun Oo said, “We have 15 vehicles now after forming this COVID-19 special team. We cannot use ordinary ambulances. Our vehicles are closed at both ends. We have 15 such vehicles.”

Over 50 team members will be on standby at the base station at No. 1 Basic Education High School and 50 more members are available for field work.

These 50-member field workers are divided into two teams and they will perform their duty in turn as they face the occupational hazard of being infected with this virus.

Rescue Team Vice-chairman Moe Nyein said, “They have to stay at this base station. They cannot go back to their homes. These two 25-member teams will be equipped with PPE (personal protection equipment) and they will send patients to the hospitals.”

This COVID-19 Special Rescue Team will transport confirmed cases, emergency cases, suspect cases, and quarantine cases to their respective places and will also transport the bodies of patients who have died.

The coronavirus can be caught through airborne transmission so the rescue team workers have to prepare themselves psychologically too.

Team member Nay Win Soe said, “We will not have regrets even if we face death as we are rescuing the lives of others. I have already left my last message and wish to my team and my family.”