Public festivals and other events will be barred from taking place in Kalay, Sagaing Region until the end of April in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a statement from the township’s General Administration Department (GAD) has announced.

Kalay Township GAD officer Nyi Nyi said that the order includes trainings, workshops, and the annual water festival, Thingyan.

“The President’s Office already released a statement about the closure of all festive activities. We released a local order,” the officer told Khonumthung News of the statement put out on March 17. “We called up all village headmen and told them to inform local people about this local order. After that, village headmen will report to us.”

There are currently no reports of suspected coronavirus infections in Kalay. GAD officer Nyi Myi said that the authorities had drawn up a plan of preventative measures and reported it to the district’s health department.

According to the local order, if anyone is suspected of having the coronavirus, they must report it to the health department through their village headman.

The order told people not to panic, but to follow preventative measures announced by the health ministry.

The Burmese government maintains that there are no cases of COVID-19 in the country, a claim which many people have questioned, as it has been classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Cases are rapidly rising in many of Burma’s neighboring countries.