Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kachin State have been experiencing a surge of Covid-19 cases and are in need of emergency aid, according to camp representatives.
Myanmar Now spoke with officers from four camps, where there have been a total of nearly 100 new infections since early July.
All camps where infections had been confirmed were under lockdown at the time of reporting. Camps located in areas under the junta’s control reported receiving no help from the military authorities. Those in Kachin Independence Army (KIA) territory had been sending Covid-19 patients for treatment at the KIA headquarters in Laiza.
Camps in areas occupied by the junta
“We are going to need a lot more help,” said Lum Ze, an officer in the Maina camp in Waingmaw, set up by the Roman Catholic church.
The camp’s five confirmed Covid-19 patients had been sent to the Waingmaw Public Hospital, and their houses sealed off from the camp’s other 1,700 residents. Those who were infected included two women and three men, one of whom is elderly.
The camp has existed since 2017, when people from Waingmaw, Chipwi, N Jang Yang, Mansi and Hpakant fled their homes due to fighting between the KIA and the Myanmar army.
In another Maina camp administered by the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) and housing 3,000 displaced people, Covid-19 cases began appearing on July 24. Thirty-five infections had been documented as of Tuesday, according to camp officer Brang Seng.
Among those who are sick is a six-month-old baby and five children under the age of 10. Most of the other infections have been found in the elderly, Brand Seng said. Since the camp was put under lockdown on July 21, he said that there had been a shortage of food and Covid-19 prevention materials.
“As more and more cases have been found every day, the lockdown will not be lifted anytime soon. I know things are hard for everyone but we’re a lot more disadvantaged here, so we’re going to need much more help,” he explained.
The KBC’s 3,800-person Robert IDP camp in Bhamo saw the number of infections rise in early July, according to Rev Htin Nan Naw, who is also a camp officer.
At that time, some 47 of 70 children in the camp’s orphanage had contracted the coronavirus, the reverend said. A 13-year-old child died of Covid-19 on July 31.
“They’ve been keeping the patients isolated and are giving them the best care under the supervision of retired doctors and nurses. They will have to send them to the hospital if things get worse, though,” Rev Htein Nan Naw said.
He continued that apart from some private donations, the camp had not received any other support, including help from the military authorities.
IDP camps in KIA territory
Two IDP camps in KIA territory near Laiza have been under lockdown, as has the town itself, since July 28.
Baptist pastor Gwen Fan Latt from the Wai Kyaing IDP camp said that nine people in the camp had tested positive, as did one person in the J Yang camp, five miles away. They had been quarantined and cared for in the KIA headquarters, the pastor added.
The Kachin Independence Organisation’s Covid-19 prevention and treatment team told a local media outlet that a 42-year-old woman being treated in Laiza for Covid-19 had died on Tuesday.
The committee announced on July 27 that they would be testing all of Laiza’s townspeople for the virus.
KIA information officer Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now that they had already administered Sinovac vaccines to around 10,000 people living in Laiza and Mai Ja Yang, and aim to vaccinate as many as 300,000 people. The jabs were supplied by China, he said.
There are more than 180 IDP camps in Kachin State with a population of 120,000 displaced persons, according to civil society organisations.