The Myanmar authorities are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to trying to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic but the statistics indicate the country may be seeing a slowdown in infections.

On the one hand, they feel it necessary to take strict measures in various parts of the country to “lockdown” or impose “Stay at Home” orders and other so-called “social distancing” measures. On the other, there is growing pressure to open up the economy as businesses and employees suffer
due to the restrictions.

Myanmar has extended COVID-19 preventive measures excluding those which are to be relaxed or tightened, until the end of January 2021 to contain the virus infection, according to the Central Committee for Prevention, Control, and Treatment of COVID-19.

Myanmar's Ministry of Health and Sports has announced the lifting of stay-at-home order in some townships across regions and states as they have witnessed lesser daily Covid-19 cases, according to an IANS report.

According to the order issued by the Ministry, the Stay at Home order was lifted in all townships excluding three in the Yangon region as of last week. Also, the lifting of the Stay at Home orders were being applied to some townships in Mandalay, Bago, Ayeyarwady regions, and Mon and Kachin states, respectively.

However, at the same time, Stay at Home orders were imposed in four townships, Aungmyaythazan, Chanmyathazai, Pyigyidagun and Patheingyi townships of Mandalay regions starting last weekend as part of containment measures, according to a DVB report.

In the meantime, a block is still in place and has been extended until the end of January on incoming flights into Myanmar as part of efforts to keep a lid on the pandemic.

As of January 2, 2021, the number of COVID-19 cases stood at 125,042 with a total of 2,697.

According to an assessment and graph provided by the JHU CSSE COVID-19 data, the number of COVID-19 positive cases is beginning to level off, indicating the country might be getting over the hump. The number of daily COVID-19 positive cases has been dropping since the end of November.

An important gauge as the lethality of the pandemic in Myanmar is that the death rate per million stands at 49. This is a far cry from say 1,067 as seen the United States of America.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Sports said a couple of months ago that the majority of deaths put down to COVID-19 at that time involved people with other health conditions, and only a percentage were directly due to COVID-19.

The bottom line with this pandemic is that number of people who actually die from it and when it comes to the death figure it is on a par or less than a number of other health conditions including cancer and heart disease.

The Myanmar government naturally wants to protect its citizens but the damage being done by lockdowns and other restrictions could have serious negative effects on people’s lives and livelihoods.

Police in Myanmar were not infected with Covid-19 during the first wave, but in the second wave, more than 1,200 police officers across the country have been infected, said the police Chief Kyaw Thiha, a spokesperson for the Myanmar Police Headquarters.