30 Jan 2020 WHO Director General declares COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern. Following this declaration, Ministry of Health & Sports and WHO Myanmar convened coordination meetings with development partners, UN agencies and International/national humanitarian organizations dedicated to COVID-19 activities. Since there have been six successive coordination meetings which are envisaged to continue.
WHO updated COVID-19 case definitions on 27 Feb 2020 (https://bit.ly/2Tf9ydg). Further, WHO revised the risk assessment on 29 Feb 2020, which is now very high across all levels, China, regional, and global.
Ministry of Health & Sports, Myanmar, issued an initial flash proposal for Covid-19 activities totaling USD $5 million. The proposal includes key public health measures to prevent and contain any outbreak at an early stage, including surveillance at community level, points of entry, risk communication, nonpharmaceutical medical & laboratory supplies, awareness raising. WHO and partners support implementation. Further, monitoring through an open-source web-based platform for partners’ inputs has been created and is functional at http://bit.ly/2UMnX1L. This enables realtime resource mapping and analysis.
Further, a comprehensive contingency plan for Covid-19 and emerging respiratory disease outbreak response in Myanmar is currently being developed.
To minimize the general risk of transmission of acute respiratory infections, simple prevention measures are highly recommended:
- wash hands frequently with soap & water
- avoid unprotected contact with wild animals. wash your hands thoroughly after contact with an animal
- cover coughs, sneezes with tissues or clothing, maintain distance, wash hands with soap & water
- if you have fever, cough, shortness of breath, seek advice & share travel history with health professionals
- avoid close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections
- smoking harms lung health -- if you smoke, quit
6 ways to prevent Covid-19 in 60 seconds, video link https://bit.ly/2IxWhql. Our newsletters novel corona virus (nCoV), of 24 January & updates as at 7 February 2020, have details in English and Myanmar languages, at the adjacent links.
7 Feb 2020 in English (https://bit.ly/2vfHCMM) & in Myanmar (https://bit.ly/2HagDF5)
24 Jan 2020 in English (https://bit.ly/30UVRT6) & in Myanmar (https://bit.ly/313eHHO)
In addition, more information by Ministry of Health & Sports is available at https://bit.ly/3bOIYiH.
Global situation of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)*
Globally confirmed cases
| 4 Mar 20 | 20 Feb 20 | 12 Feb 20 |
| 90,090 | 75,748 | 45,171 |
| China | 4 Mar 20 | 20 Feb 20 |
12 Feb 20 |
| confirmed cases | 80,422 | 74,675 | 44,730 |
| death cases | 2,984 | 2,121 | 1,114 |
| Outside of China | 4 Mar 20 | 20 Feb 20 | 12 Feb 20 |
| confirmed cases | 12,668 | 1,073 | 441 |
| countries | 75 | 26 | 24 |
| death cases | 214 | 8 | 1 |
WHO risk assessment
China - very high
Regional level - very high
Global level - very high
Online courses related to COVID-19 can be found at the OpenWHO platform:
- A general introduction to emerging respiratory viruses high https://bit.ly/37LICFW
- Critical care of severe acute respiratory infections https://bit.ly/3bS7dfD
- Health and safety briefing for respiratory diseases - ePROTECT https://bit.ly/2HJ9XhG
* Covid-19 situation report-44 published on 5 Mar 2020