Aid Groups Fear COVID Third Wave in Post-Coup Myanmar 

KUALA LUMPUR - Aid groups say Myanmar’s efforts to contain the novel coronavirus have been crumbling since a Feb. 1 coup that has plunged parts of the country into chaos, raising fears of a third wave of infections. 

The military takeover has set off daily — and increasingly violent — confrontations with protesters across the country. A local rights group claims soldiers and police have rounded up thousands of people and killed more than 700, dozens of children among them, in a bid to quell resistance.  A so-called civil disobedience movement has also seen thousands of public and private sector workers go on strike, bringing much regular daily life and business to a grinding halt.  That includes the public health care system, threadbare even before the coup from decades of underfunding. Sources told VOA that thousands of doctors and nurses have walked off the job to join the strikes. Local news outlet Frontier Myanmar put the number of striking healthcare workers at over 60,000, citing a source at the Ministry of Health and Sports.