COVID-19: Myanmar reports record single-day surge

YANGON, Myanmar

Myanmar reported 107 new cases of the novel coronavirus Monday, the highest single-day spike in the country so far.

According to the Ministry of Health and Sports, the new cases were found after testing 2,913 samples, mostly from the political capital Nay Pyi Taw and commercial hub Yangon.

Though the information from the ministry did not include details of the locations of the latest infections, most cases yet found have been from the western Rakhine state, now a hotspot of transmission in recent weeks.

Myanmar, which has reported a total of 882 COVID-19 cases, including 354 recoveries and six deaths as of Monday, has been seeing an increasing number of cases since Aug. 16, when the first local transmission case was found in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, after a month-long pause.

Authorities had placed Rakhine state under semi-lockdown and nighttime curfews since last week after a spike of local transmissions -- with nearly 300 cases in just two weeks -- in 11 townships in the region, including Sittwe, where nearly 100,000 Rohingya Muslims are confined in overcrowded camps since communal violence erupted in 2012.

Due to mounting local infections in Rakhine state, as well as other regions in the country, the government last week decided to close all public and private high schools, affecting more than 1.2 million students. Public and private high schools were allowed to reopen since July 21 after a two-month suspension.

Myanmar on Sunday extended the restrictions on entry visas to all incoming visitors, as well as a ban on international commercial flights into the country's airports until the end of September.