At around 2pm on Friday, a woman who lives in Yangon arrived at the East Dagon home of her father and brother, who had both been suffering from Covid-19, after trying and failing to get through to them on the phone.
She walked into the living room to find her 40-year-old brother sitting dead in a chair. At his side was the oximeter he had been using to measure his heart rate and blood oxygen level, watching helplessly as the numbers plummeted.
Her 70-year-old father was lying dead in his bed.
On the same day, a group of residents in the city’s Sanchaung Township broke into the apartment of their 70-year-old neighbour, who was also Covid-19 positive, after they became worried about her condition.
She had been dead for some time and her body was stiff. Her skin had turned a purplish grey and was cold to the touch, said Ye Thurein from the township’s fire department.
These stories, relayed by people on the front lines of the response to the latest surge of the virus, illustrate just how desperate the situation has become in Myanmar’s largest city.
Hospitals and quarantine centers are closed or full to capacity, large numbers of the country’s medical professionals are besieged by a merciless military junta, and oxygen is practically impossible to find for most people.
There is now so much death that some are passing away unnoticed, alone in their homes.
Min Din, chair of the Metta Thingaha Funeral Service, said he feared this will become more common amid the total collapse of the healthcare system.
“The woman said the father was deprived of oxygen about a week ago and had been suffering from shortness of breath. His son also had been deprived of oxygen for the past three days,” said Min Din.
The son went out a few days before his death to search for oxygen, but in vain, he added. All the men had at home to treat their conditions was some traditional medicine.
“It is believed that the son died first. If his dad had died first, the son would have informed other people about the death,” Min Din said.
Civil society groups have said that since earlier this month around 600 people are dying a day from Covid-19 in Yangon. The junta’s figures, which few trust, say about 160 are dying a day on average.
Under the tenure of the civilian government that was toppled by the military in February, suspected Covid-19 patients in East Dagon were swiftly taken to one of five quarantine centers with a capacity between them of about 600 patients, said Min Din.
Since the coup, the quarantine system has collapsed as staff and volunteers refused to serve under the junta. Now, the only work to do is to take bodies to the cemetery.
“There is no quarantine center,” Min Din said. “Simply put, starting from July 8, we are not able to provide Covid-19 tests in East Dagon. And now we are not able to lockdown houses that have Covid-19 patients or the houses that have deaths suspected to be associated with Covid-19.”
Last week photos and videos of rows of bodies sitting in the overcrowded Yay Way crematorium went viral on social media.
The junta has now moved to put an end to these embarrassing scenes by restricting the number of funeral cars allowed to enter the area, which has led to long lines of vehicles on nearby roads.
Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has claimed via junta mouthpieces that there is an adequate supply of oxygen.
Dr Zaw Wai Soe, who helped lead Covid-19 response efforts during the first wave and second waves under the civilian government, said the junta’s statements, including its figures for the daily death toll, were out of touch with reality.
“What he said about having enough oxygen is brainless,” he said.
