The writer is a journalist in Central Myanmar who is receiving support from The Kite Tales to write these diaries.
March 2022
The bombings have not yet reached the city where we are, but psychological insecurity and COVID-19 are already here.
Myanmar, which has been plagued by war and economic decline since the coup last year, is also facing the fourth wave of coronavirus. The junta’s feeble pandemic preparation means people are struggling daily to juggle safety precautions and the jobs they need to do to feed themselves.
COVID-19 closed in on us again in early February.
"If we do not sell, we will go hungry,” said the woman who comes to our neighbourhood every day and sells boiled corn, sweet potatoes and quail eggs. “If it’s just me, it’s fine but I have a family so there’s not much I can do even if I get infected.”
She is risking her health to make ends meet. So are many others, including my husband.
Rising daily infection rates are a reminder to us to be more cautious.
During the third wave of COVID-19, infected people mostly had to find ways to get treatment at home, and older people with any prior health conditions overwhelmingly lost their lives if they caught the virus.
My friend's mother was only a little over 50 years old, but she couldn’t get to the hospital or clinic and despite their best efforts, her oxygen levels plummeted and she died.
At that time, many families couldn’t do anything but sit and watch their loved ones fade away because they could not afford oxygen tanks.
We have been trying our best to protect ourselves. We wear masks every time we leave the house. We carry hand sanitiser with us wherever we go. When we get home, we wash our clothes immediately. We wash our hands regularly.
I am double vaccinated but I still fell ill with suspected covid, like many others for whom their previous vaccinations didn’t provide enough protection against this new mutation.
I would not have worried as much if it was just for myself, but we have both my 80-year-old mother, who is unwell, and my one-year-old baby, at our house. Both were infected with COVID-19 during the third wave. It is them I’m worried about.
By mid-February, almost the whole neighbourhood where we live had fallen ill. Luckily, the death toll was very low, unlike during the third wave.
For me, the days I had to pass alone to ensure that my elderly mother and my child didn't get infected were like being in hell.
People know that if they get infected, it will be difficult to get proper treatment in junta-run hospitals. Besides, anyone who opposes the junta is unlikely to receive safe treatment.
The junta is focusing on cracking down on the protests that are still happening and the conflicts that are popping up, with little attention on healthcare.
We know people need to be boosted to stay immune but the Ministry of Health, which is part of the coup regime, has yet to start providing this to the wider public.
Some people who can afford to buy the vaccine did so. But for the vast majority, we just have to get through this period with bitterness.
For now, people who live in cities not only have to fear the virus but they are also subjected to inspections by members of the military dictatorship who will stop them and inspect their phones. If they are found to be using VPN to access the Internet or find any anti-military messages, they face arrest.
If you go out of your house, you are terrified of COVID-19 as well as the military junta. And yet you feel suffocated too by staying put the whole time.
After enduring years of war and COVID-19, I feel like I’m close to collapsing after putting up with so much.
Artwork by Songbird who is receiving support from The Kite Tales to produce illustrations.
