School Turned Quarantine Centre Panics Rohingya in Urban Maungdaw

MAUNGDAW — Local authorities have planned to quarantine Buddhist workers returning from Thailand in schools close to Rohingya village while the plan is panicking the Rohingya neighbourhood, according to Rohingya Eye.

The administration of Urban (Myoma) Southern Quarter of Maungdaw has evacuated two buildings of Basic Education High School (2) on March 30, at around 2:00 p.m. for the workers returning from abroad to be quarantined in.

BEHS-2 is located in Southern Quarter of Maungdaw (locally known as Haari Fara Village) neighbouring Ali Fara Hamlet where many Rohingya live.

More than a dozen Rakhine Buddhist workers are about to return from Thailand who will be quarantined in the school facilities.

The government previously planned to quarantine them in the Buddhist temple called Baho Kyaung behind the Myoma Market. But as the neighbouring Buddhists objected the plan, the authorities moved the quarantine centre to the Muslim neighbourhood.

“The school is home to hundreds of kids and turning its facilities into Quarantine centre is an irresponsible move and panics the Rohingya neighbourhood. It is at the same time discriminatory because the thing that the Buddhists are scared of is moved to Muslims,” a local told Rohingya Vision, adding “The students attending the High School No. 2 are mostly Rohingya.”

Maungdaw, the westernmost township of Myanmar and Rakhine State is mostly rural area except for the downtown. It has a very poor healthcare system and the Muslims have very limited access to it. At the same time, they are discriminated in the healthcare facilities like any other public sectors. Due to internet shutdown, the locals have no access to information about the COVID-19 and its preventive measures.

Though it has a very hearty relationship with the Chinese epicentre, Myanmar has still 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with one death reported recently.