Market vendors to be checked for Covid-19 vaccination status: Arakan State military council spox

By DMG 04 Mar 2022

DMG Newsroom
4 March 2022, Sittwe

U Hla Thein, a spokesman for the Arakan State Administration Council, said vendors at traditional markets and supermarkets in Arakan State would be scrutinised for Covid-19 vaccination status.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Arakan State military government on March 3, he explained, adding that employees from the General Administration Department (GAD), township development committees, and police and the departmental staff would be tasked with verifying that the vendors in question are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

“Vendors will be tested to see if they have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and will not be allowed to sell unless they have been vaccinated. Vendors are not allowed to sell unless they have a double dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Those who have yet to receive the Covid-19 vaccine must be vaccinated,” he said.

Sales staff at grocers and other stores will also be screened for the Covid-19 vaccine and information on the population of those who have not yet been fully vaccinated will be compiled, he said.

Officials aim to achieve full coverage of the Covid-19 vaccine in Arakan State over the coming months. Currently, 84% of people in Arakan State have been vaccinated twice, and the remaining 16% will be vaccinated by the end of April, according to the Arakan State Administration Council.

The state’s military council has said that people in Arakan State will be required to get the full two-shot Covid-19 regimen to slow the spread of the disease amid a recent rise in incidence and deaths, blamed in part on the growing prevalence in Myanmar of the highly contagious Omicron variant.