Myanmar doctors in hiding and hunted by the junta as Covid crisis ravages the country

CNN

By Helen Regan
Photo: AFP | Getty Images

A severe Covid-19 wave is devastating Myanmar -- a country already on its knees following February's military coup -- with people queuing for hours for oxygen in major cities and the seriously ill dying at home because they are too scared to visit understaffed, ill-equipped hospitals.

Images from the biggest city, Yangon, show families of the sick waiting at oxygen plants in the hopes of refilling tanks, crematoriums packed with mourners and coffins, and funeral workers and volunteers in white hazmat suits working non-stop at cemeteries to bury rows of shrouded bodies.

During months of bloody political turmoil, Myanmar's security forces have killed more than 900 people, including shooting protesters dead in the streets, and laid siege to entire villages. Thousands have been detained in the ongoing crackdown, with widespread reports of torture.

Civil society has been eroded and the already vulnerable health care system has collapsed. Doctors and other health workers, many of whom went on strike to protest the coup, have been forced into hiding to escape attacks and arrest from junta forces.

Publish : 2021-07-22 11:52:00

Give Your Comments