Following the deaths of six people from diarrhea in Kyaikkhami Town, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, all shops selling food and restaurants in the town were closed for 10 days, from 10 September 2024.

The outbreak of diarrhea in Kyaikkhami began in the first week of September, following the return of fishermen who had contracted the illness whilst at sea on a fishing boat.

On 10 September, the junta-controlled Thanbyuzayat Township General Administration Office ordered the closure of all shops selling food and restaurants in Kyaikkhami Town for 10 days.

A Kyaikkhami resident said to Than Lwin Times: "Fishermen returning from the sea have been dying one by one, and now there have been six fatalities. Due to this series of deaths, suspicions arose, and tests were conducted. Laboratory results confirmed diarrheal infections. After that, an instruction was issued to close all food-selling shops in the town for 10 days.”

As of 13 September six people had died from diarrhea in Kyaikkham Town. The six were all fishermen working on the same boat.

The diarrhea outbreak is believed to have originated from a single boat and its attached rafts on which 83 fishermen were working. They are now all under quarantine. 12 have been confirmed to be suffering from diarrhea and have been transferred to Kyaikkhami Hospital for monitoring and treatment.

Following the deaths, chlorine tablets have been distributed to Kyaikkhami Town residents so that they can disinfect their water. Health awareness lectures are also being conducted in Aung Pin Lal and Aung Thu Kha wards in Kyaikkhami Town and in the nearby Mya Mar Lar Village in Thanbyuzayat Township.

Kyaikkhami Town has relied on fishing for generations. Every year, when the fishing season begins, hundreds of boats set out to sea from Kyaikkhami Town and thousands of families in the town depend on fishing for their livelihood, according to people involved in the town's fishing industry.