Pandemic brings fear, but also renewed hope

Editor's Note:

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, governments across the world have taken strict measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Everyone's life has changed dramatically due to the pandemic, and we still don't know when we will finally defeat the invisible enemy. However, life moves on. In our series "My story of fighting COVID-19", we will share stories from our readers on how they are fighting against COVID-19 in their daily life. We hope these stories will inspire you.

[Photo by Song Chen/China Daily]

When we heard about the outbreak of COVID-19, we were not afraid because we thought it would disappear soon like other diseases. Although the outbreak seemed serious, I was not afraid of it because epidemics like MERS and SARS and avian flu did not greatly affect Myanmar. On March 2020, COVID-19 patients were discovered in Myanmar and my anxiety was awakened. Since other developed countries had difficulties controlling COVID-19, I was afraid whether our country could control the spread.

Since summer vacation for our university was from April to May and the first COVID-19 patient was found in March, I went back to my hometown. My husband had to close his sportswear shop because of the pandemic. The whole town became silent and the roads were empty. Everyone was staying home and watching the news. Most followed the news on Facebook, and so did I. In doing so, I learned in Myanmar there was less knowledge about viruses and microorganisms and laboratory biosafety levels. Some false stories made some dishonest claims about COIVD-19. Although Facebook attempts to control the spread of misinformation, some posts were shared so fast the damage was already done. When some people read these stories, they became afraid. I think scientists should share information about their fields, so people can understand them and relieve their stress.

Although I didn't have the confidence to make a Facebook page myself, I wrote a post on a Facebook group. I said we should launch a public page so people could read about these topics. Some students have planned to start a page about biotechnology, despite their busy schedules. They are from our university and others, and people from other countries also got involved. Finally we were able to make our page, called Myanmar Biotechnology Society, and launched on May 1. Now, our page is several months old and we were able to publish many articles about COVID-19 and other biotechnology topics in the Burmese language.

I did what I could to help. As I could not help physically, I joined as an online volunteer to fill out data for the Ministry of Health and Sports website covidmyanmar.com, which shows a map of COVID-19 patients, hospital locations and other relevant information.

Some people suffered depression and anxiety during this pandemic because of job, financial, family or health problems. COVID-19 has had a big impact on most of the world. At the same time, humanity, kindness, love and care has shone through. People have united to fight COVID-19 together. I used to be depressed, long before this pandemic, but I feel different now. Helping out with the Myanmar Biotechnology Society Page and online volunteering gave me the strength to help fight COVID -19, although I am not well physically.

During my time at home, I learned so many new things from my friends and classmates. Since vacation is over, I am back at university while still volunteering in my spare time. Since the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet, we still need to stand together to overcome it.

Moe Thazin Shwe is a student at Mandalay Technological University in Myanmar.