Myanmar to start COVID vaccination drive for school-going children aged above 12 years

Myanmar's state-run media stated on Sunday that a COVID vaccination programme will begin next week for kids aged over 12 years. According to the research, around 1 million middle and high school children who have enrolled for the 2021-2022 academic year will be vaccinated in an effort to reduce COVID infections.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Health on Sunday, more than 4.11 million people have been fully vaccinated across the country, with more than 5.78 million receiving the first COVID vaccine shots as of Saturday. Meanwhile, the number of COVID cases in Myanmar grew to 4,78,651 on Sunday, according to a government release, after 1,318 new cases were registered in the previous 24 hours.

Myanmar reports 30 deaths on Sunday

According to the announcement, 30 further deaths were reported on Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 18,134, according to Xinhua. Ministry's estimates suggest that 4,31,275 patients have been released from hospitals and over 4.5 million samples have been tested for COVID. So far, Myanmar has given out more than 12 million doses of COVID vaccination, which would be enough to fully vaccinate 11.3 per cent of the country's population. Myanmar provided roughly 2 lakh vaccination per day on an average over the past week reported Xinhua.

India has hit the restart button on the provision of COVID vaccinations as well as first deliveries to the surrounding countries. India has lately provided COVID vaccinations to Myanmar, Iran and Bangladesh, according to reports.

Ongoing violence in Myanmar

However, despite the COVID, the number of clashes between Myanmar's military and rebel groups has risen dramatically, with 132 instances in the previous month alone. According to Radio Free Asia, quoting opposition sources, the armed opposition to Myanmar's military junta inflicted an increasing number of deaths on government troops and knocked out more than 120 army-owned cellphone towers in September. Myanmar has been in chaos since a military coup led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing ousted the civilian administration on February 1 and established a year-long state of emergency. Massive protests erupted in response to the coup, which was greeted with terrible violence.

(Inputs from ANI)

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