Coronavirus in Myanmar
Why are there still no reported cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Golden Land, when it has been spreading unabated into nearly every other country on Earth?
This is burning question has dominated discussions between expats and locals in the recent days and weeks. One expat living in Yangon recently put this question to a Yangon forum on Facebook, and is reprinted here (with some spelling and syntax errors corrected):
“With the current level of precaution measures around Myanmar, the situation could have already developed by the Italian scenario. There is a big chance it did but we just don’t know about it. BUT the country is all on Facebook. Even in the deep villages without electricity there are people on Facebook. SO if the situation was developing by the same scenario as in Italy, mass contagion and multiple death would already be reported by thousands of people on Facebook. The hospitals would be full of people with symptoms everywhere in the country. Even if they are not tested there would be the spike in the amount of symptomatic patients around the country. But it’s obviously not happening. I passed Parami hospital today - its empty. My question is WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT MYANMAR compared to Italy that led to Italian scenario not happening?”
Replies started pouring in immediately, and the following theories have been proposed thus far; some have been dismissed out of hand while others are being debated further:
· Myanmar is a humid country, and the virus cannot survive in humid conditions.
· Myanmar is a hot country, and the virus cannot survive in hot conditions.
· There is less international travel to and from Myanmar.
· Burmese people do not usually greet one another with kisses or handshakes, thus reducing human contact.
· The percentage of young people in Myanmar is higher than Italy, and the virus is more lethal to elderly.
· The virus may already be here, but is dormant for now, and will erupt at a later time.
· Burmese people have an “easy come, easy go” attitude, and the lack of mental stress and overall restriction surrounding the virus have not exacerbated the spread of mental tension as in other countries.
· There are more open spaces in Myanmar, and people spend less time in large buildings together.
· There are many remote places in Myanmar that have minimal contact with the outside world.
· “Sayar Kho”, a traditional medicated balm, which is also reputed to cure cancer, is responsible for keeping Burmese safe.
· Typically in Myanmar homes, older people stay home anyway.
· There is a lack of air-conditioning in many Burmese homes and businesses, lessening the spread.
· Burmese have a very high immune system, having already been exposed on a regular basis to many pathogens and viruses that Western countries are not.
· The combination of unregulated air pollution with hot, humid climate somehow prevents the spread of the virus.
· A strange flu swept through Myanmar a few months ago, which may have been a mild form of COVID-19 that served as an inoculation.
Frankly, a lack of government transparency and a sometimes twisted logic has not helped, either. For example, Health Minister Khin Khin Gyi commented, “Hubei province is 1,200 miles from our country. This geographical factor is preventing the disease from spreading to us. We are fortunate.” And Time magazine reported that the Health Ministry’s initial response was even to punish any healthcare worker who spoke publicly about the virus with a $70 fine. The Ministry has also refused to answer any questions about their preparations (if there even have been any). Finally, U Zaw Htay, the President’s Spokesperson, suggested that the Burmese “lifestyle and diet” were factors explaining why the virus has not yet taken root. So the people of Myanmar have pretty much been left to make sense of this on their own.
Life has continued in Myanmar almost as normal as much of the rest of the world is shutting down in unprecedented ways. Aside from canceling the Water Festival, the most important Buddhist holiday of the year, and the fact that many international monasteries and meditation centers are presently banning visitors, much else has continued on as normal—buses are running, restaurants are open, and life continues in the streets and monasteries as usual.
Still, many are terrified that should the virus start to reach Myanmar, disaster is inevitable. Everything from eating utensils to drinking cups to dishes and food itself are shared communally. When washed, there is rarely any hot water to speak of, and sometimes not much soap, and even the washer may not have properly washed their hands prior. Medical services and hospitals are inadequate even under normal conditions, and with the rest of developed world now overwhelmed by their own pressing needs, no one will be in a position to assist Myanmar from outside. And yet almost miraculously, as people continue to wait for the inevitable, the virus still seems held at bay.
A European monk living in Myanmar, who expressed his own level of confusion that an outbreak had still not yet occurred, offered the following, more “spiritual” explanation: “It is getting to the point,” he said, “that I honestly can’t think of another explanation for this occurrence than the deep devotion that so many people here have in Triple Gem.” Not wishing to allow blind religious faith to trump proven medical science, he was cautiously beginning to consider this as an option, while he still waited with trepidation for the virus to come. “What struck me today on alms-round though is the immense vulnerability of the poor. When I go for alms I see people living in sheds with tarp-roofs, some of them over 70-years old, running a little tea-stall by a lake. When they get sick they will have no resources to pay for proper medical care, and will not be able to make income. Who will be there to care for them? If I hear the numbers of deaths in Italy and the seeming impossibility of containing the virus in a city like Yangon and a non-hygienic culture, I feel that something pretty intense is waiting to start unfolding here. Let's see how it eventually goes - just going day by day.”
It also came out that Yaw Sayadaw, the only living Tipiṭaka-dhara and considered by some to be a full arahant, intimated to supporters that he knew with certainty that the virus would not enter Myanmar’s borders. While such a statement may frustrate those following the coronavirus news and the expectation of a coming calamity with growing alarm, this assurance by one who is allegedly attained cannot be dismissed out of hand.
Time will tell how all this will ultimately play out. In the meantime, anxious observers follow the news and try to make the best decisions for their own and their loved ones’ life and safety. Maybe good government policy, scientific inquiry, basic health precautions, ethical living, spiritual belief, and religious faith will somehow intersect and keep the virus from doing harm. Barring that possibility, each person will lean on whichever one holds most true for them.
May all beings be well, be peaceful, and be happy.
