Flash alert – Covid-19 Pandemic: 574 More Confirmed Cases on 2 January 

Saturday 2 January, 2021       

At 20:00, the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) reported 574 new cases in the last 24 hours, i.e. 125,242 cases since the beginning of the second wave (16 August). Details about those new cases will be released tomorrow evening.   

Those 574 cases were detected out of 15,972 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, i.e. a positivity rate of 3.6%. The MoHS also stated that 14 more patients had died from the disease in the last 24 hours.  

Since the beginning of the pandemic in Myanmar, in March 2020, 125,616 people have been contaminated by Covid-19, and 2,711 have died from it.    

The current situation is also marked by the new strain of the Covid-19 virus, which existence was revealed by the British authorities in November.  

In that context, on 31 December, the MoHS imposed a travel ban on all travellers coming from the UK, or having visited the UK in the last 14 days. This order will remain enforced until further notice. This will severely hamper all travel from that country.  

We strongly recommend you to avoid travelling to or transiting through the UK if you are considering travelling back to Myanmar. However, with this new strain found in more and more countries, this focus on the UK may lose relevance in the next few weeks. According to a recent Cambridge article, this new strain is not more virulent, but more contagious. 

Questions or further request for information can be directed towards 

Martin Michalon, Head of Risk Management, at m.michalon@exera.asia.