Newsletter for october 2020

The “second wave” has started in Myanmar. Yangon faced a semi-lockdown for a few weeks whereby everybody was encouraged to work from home. Food supplies, markets, government offices, public transport and banks are open while restaurants are only  allowed to provide take-away food. Bars, karaoke and shops are closed and also airports continue to be closed (currently till 31 October and likely to be extended). The number of Covid-19 related deaths is under 1000 and according to Johns Hopkins (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality) Myanmar is around place 120 in terms of worldwide mortality per 100.000 people. 

Meanwhile the Myanmar government issued clear guidelines for the tourism industry how to make sure to operate safely for customers and staff. The Tourism National Guidelines for Covid 19 Safe Services were issued for hotels, restaurants, airlines, museums & temples, transportation companies, tour operators and guides. Operations are checked by the ministry of hotel & tourism together with local authorities from the ministry of health before they are allowed to re-open again. Do let us know if you want to receive a copy of the guidelines (30 pages in English). The government also started using the rapid Covid-19 test for truck drivers before being allowed on the Yangon – Mandalay highway. I personally do hope that eventually this rapid test will be used as well on arrival at Yangon airport.

The Myanmar elections will take place on 8 November and campaigning is currently mostly done online. In some areas with continuous unrest like Northern Rakhine, Kachin and some areas in Shan state there will be no voting due to safety concerns. These areas are very much in line with the areas that are  never “safe to visit” for tourists and the areas mentioned in the Netflix series “The business of drugs” I spoke about in the last newsletter.

If you’re very interested in the elections, read the following report on a survey of general perceptions of the citizens of Myanmar. Basically it shows that people have confidence in the election process to be free and fair (and that’s also what shows on the ground). The NLD is likely to win the elections as Aung San Suu Kyi continues to be very popular with probably more seats for some of the ethnic parties as well. 

People are worried about the spreading of Covid-19 during the elections and as a result it’s made possible for elderly people to vote in advance (and avoid the crowds). The government also made it possible to vote from the city people work (rather than their native town) to avoid too many people travelling.