More than 50 employees of Sittwe University in the Arakan State capital have tested positive for Covid-19, but the university has no plans to suspend classes again, according to its Academic Affairs Department.
“More than 50 staff of Sittwe University tested positive for Covid-19, according to the testing as of yesterday [February 15]. Some are teachers. None of them has an underlying disease. They are under quarantine at a building on campus. There is no plan to close the university,” U Kyaw Naing Oo, from the university’s Academic Affairs Department, told DMG.
Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the state’s Public Health Department, said more than 50 Sittwe University staff and over 10 flight passengers tested positive for Covid-19 on February 15.
The swabs of 12 of them have been sent to Yangon to test whether the strain contracted is the Omicron variant, he added.
“A total of 71 people were detected with Covid-19 infections. As they do not have underlying diseases, we are allowing them to stay home quarantined. We cannot test for the Omicron variant here,” Dr. Soe Win Paing told DMG.
Ko Phone Pyae Phyo, a second-year student majoring in law at Sittwe University, said: “Students are worried about Covid-19 infection when some teachers and staff are infected with coronavirus. We heard, this time, most infections might be the Omicron variant, which spreads faster. The university has a crowd of students and we are worried about infection.”
There are more than 400 students at the university and more than 300 of them are fully vaccinated, said U Kyaw Naing Oo.
The Ministry of Health has noted that the Omicron variant is known to infect asymptomatically, with elderly people, those with underlying diseases, and the unvaccinated being at high risk of infection and of developing symptoms that are severe and in some cases lead to death.
Between May 25, 2021, and February 14 of this year, a total of 5,286 Covid-19 cases were recorded in Arakan State, with 501 deaths attributed to the disease and 36 people still receiving treatment, according to figures from the state’s regime council.
All air passengers, including those who are fully vaccinated, will be required to submit a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours of their flight in order to board, the Arakan State Department of Public Health has said.
