YANGON, 15 September 2020: Plans to slowly reopen some international flights between Yangon and gateway cities in Southeast in October are now on the backburner after Covid-19 cases spiked at 2,455 cases and 14 deaths at the weekend.
In response to rising Covid-19 cases, the country’s Department of Civil Aviation suspended domestic flights until 1 October. It virtually knocks out domestic travel by air to Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake, leaving the tourism industry to rely entirely on overland travel by bus and train.
Almost the entire country including the political capital Nay Pyi Daw, Yangon and northwestern Rakhine state is now under lockdown. In Yangon, some district communities barricaded streets to bar non-residents from entering at the weekend.
Borders with Thailand have been closed since last March, but there have been reports of illegals crossing the border next to Chiang Rai and Tak provinces prompting a flurry of fake news suggesting thousands of Myanmar residents had fled across the border to Thailand to seek work and refuge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Source: Mizzimai and AFP)
