Cases rising again as Myanmar logs 346 new Covid-19 infections

2BT6M70

YANGON, Feb. 6 (Xinhua): Myanmar recorded 346 new Covid-19 cases with a daily positivity rate of 1.26 percent in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said on Saturday (Feb 5).

The ministry reported that the total number of Covid-19 infections has risen to 537,569. The overall death toll remains at 19,310 as no new deaths from Covid-19 were reported on Saturday, it said.

With 173 new recoveries, the total number of cured and discharged patients has risen to 513,952 in the South-East Asian country.

Myanmar detected its first two Covid-19 positive cases in March 2020.

Meanwhile, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) has urged all sides in Myanmar to promote conducive conditions for a constructive dialogue to seek a peaceful solution to the current political crisis in the country.

"It is of critical importance for all sides to promote a conducive condition for a constructive dialogue among all parties concerned to seek a peaceful solution to the current crisis in the interest of the people of Myanmar and in order to speedily return the situation to normalcy and prevent prolonged suffering to the people of Myanmar," said an Asean chairman's statement.

Cambodia is the rotating chair of Asean for 2022.

The statement said Asean member states remained deeply concerned over the developments in Myanmar, calling for efforts from all parties there to ensure "safe and timely delivery of humanitarian assistance to those most in need."

Meanwhile, it urged the Myanmar authorities to take concrete actions to fully implement the five point consensus reached at the Asean leaders' meeting in April last year. - Xinhua