Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Myanmar. However, the actual number of cases is likely to be much higher than the official figure, due to the highly infectious nature of Covid-19, the fact that many cases are asymptomatic, the movement of people throughout Myanmar and neighbouring countries and the limitations of the detection and testing capacity within Myanmar.
Myanmar was already facing an acute humanitarian crisis before the Covid-19 pandemic; with 985,000 people needing humanitarian assistance and more than 273,000 people living in camp or camp-like settings across Kachin, Shan, Rakhine, Chin and Kayin states. The situation in many of these camps is dire, with overcrowding, inadequate WASH, health, protection, food and other key services not meeting core humanitarian and sphere standards.
