YANGON, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Yangon Region Government Saturday announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the region amid the fear of infectious COVID-19 spread.
"The curfew comes into force starting from today," Social Affairs Minister Naing Ngan Lin of Yangon Region told Xinhua.
Taking effect from 10:00 p.m to 4:00 a.m. local time, the curfew order came after Yangon region has seen a spike in number of confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Myanmar has reported 94 COVID-19 confirmed cases with five deaths as of Saturday, in 27 days since the disease was first detected in the country on March 23.
Of them, some are from 17 townships of Yangon region.
Under the regional government's recent notice, people in Yangon region are under stay-home period from April 10 to 19 during the holidays of the traditional Thingyan Water Festival which was cancelled.
On Saturday, the Health and Sports Ministry issued a stay-at-home order in seven townships of Yangon region under the Prevention and Control of Communicable Disease Law, to cut the chain of infections.
The stay-at-home order will be effective to South Okkalapa, Pabedan, Bahan, Mayangone, Insein, Shwepyitha and Hlaingthaya townships in the region, respectively.
Mandalay region also imposed a similar nighttime curfew, General Administrator Aung Mon Latt of Mandalay region told Xinhua.
According to a recent release by the Health and Sports Ministry, the government has banned gatherings of five people and above in the country, as part of efforts to curb spread of the pandemic. Enditem
