Police charged a controversial Christian preacher and three others on Tuesday for defying a ban on large gatherings aimed at preventing the spread of Covid-19.
Preacher David Lah, pastor Saw Kwe Wah, minister Ray Gandi and follower Wai Tun held events in Yangon just days after the ban was announced, according to the Yangon Covid-19 Control and Emergency Response Committee.
They face up to a year in prison under the 2013 Natural Disaster Management Law
On March 13 the president’s office, followed by every regional government in the country, banned mass gatherings until the end of April.
But the order did not clearly define how many people constitute a mass gathering.
Yangon’s Covid-19 committee is still investigating the details of the events, committee member and Mayangone regional lawmaker Moe Moe Suu Kyi told Myanmar Now.
“According to information we’ve collected so far, they held (events) on March 14 and 15,” she said.
Khin Maung Aye, secretary of the Hebron Brethren Assembly Hall, confirmed to Myanmar Now on Monday that Lah gathered a group of between 15 and 2o people at the Mayangone church compound, live streaming the events online in March and early April.
Though popular in Myanmar, Lah’s sermons have been criticised by many – including Myanmar’s Christian community – as Islamophobic and anti-LBGT.
In recent gatherings streamed online, Lah preached to his followers: “I can guarantee, if you are walking the true path and have the whole of Christ in your heart, you will not get (Covid-19).”
Two of the four charged, including Lah, have since tested positive for Covid-19.
Lah’s Facebook page describes him as a Myanmar-born preacher and resident of Toronto, Canada who tours internationally preaching the gospel.
The city’s Covid-19 committee is still considering charging other attendees as well, Naing Ngan Lin, committee member and regional social affairs minister, told Myanmar Now.
The health ministry reported 22 new cases on April 13 and 14, 21 of whom attended or had close contact with attendees of the church events.
An April 12 report from the ministry’s epidemiology unit said six people tested positive for Covid-19 after attending a religious event thought to be organised by Lah, and that those six had been in close contact with about 60 others since the event.
Ten places in five townships have been locked down since Tuesday, including a Baptist church in Insein, according to the Yangon Covid-19 Control and Emergency Response Committee.
As of April 14, the National Health Laboratory found 74 positives among the 2,841 samples it had tested for Covid-19 – including four who have died from the disease.
In Yangon region, 58 people have tested positive.
