UNION Minister for Health and Sports Dr Myint Htwe addressed the ceremony of Central-Level Refresher Trainer Course for COVID-19 Immunization held with semi-virtual system yesterday morning.

During the ceremony, he said all participants have many years of experience in the immunization industry and are fully aware of the implications of immunization, however, the course aims to let them know the latest information on possible issues related to the COVID-19 vaccination as it is a new vaccine and it seeks to carry out systematic vaccination in the first batch as well as the next batch of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The guidelines have been developed for the vaccination and are sent to respective states and regions. He said the operating guidelines would be updated as more information becomes available. The COVID-19 vaccine, which is being developed worldwide, has only been shown to have efficacy in laboratory and research studies. The extent of its effectiveness is still being studied in practice.

The research is still being conducted on how long it will protect from the virus and how effective the vaccine is after two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. He added the need to continue the COVID-19 protection guidelines, whether a person is vaccinated or not.

The Union Minister also expressed words to thanks to all the participants, including the region/state vaccine officers from Central Expanded Programme on Immunization (Central EPI) They are working hard for the vaccination.

Information about the COVID-19 vaccine is posted for the public on the Ministry’s website and social media and will continue to be published.

The planting date may not be the same from one place to another depending on the number of people to be vaccinated in each state/region, traffic situation and the security situation and hence, it will be carried out under the leadership of the Region/State Public Health Officers.

The Union Minister also added the need to divide the vaccination time and date into areas with a large population in order to prevent the occurrence of crowds in the COVID-19 vaccination.

The Central-Level Refresher Trainer Course is held on 23, and 24 January and the State/Region Level Course will be on 25 and 26 January. Only those who have completed the refresher course will plant the COVID-19 vaccination to the health workers starting on 27 January.

The Township Level Refresher Course will be held on 30 and 31 January. When planting health workers as a first priority, a list of health workers by region/ state has been compiled.

A guideline has been drawn up and disseminated in consultation with the AEFI Committee for monitoring the aftermath of vaccination and providing emergency treatment in the event of an occurrence of side effects.

He said to prepare the medial teams and immunization places according to the population to be vaccinated at the Central level hospitals, COVID-19 treatment centres and health facilities in respective hospitals and health departments.

As the COVID-19 immunization programme must be administered to a group of people over the age of 18, a Consent Form is not required as entry into the immunization site is considered a vaccination agreement but a separate plan will be made for conflict areas.

After that, the discussions were held by the Heads of Region / State Medical, and Public Health Departments and Central Hospital Superintendents and training programmes were held.

MNA

(Translated by Ei Phyu Phyu Aung)

Photo: MNA

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Union Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Ohn Win, in his capacity as the patron of the Myanmar Gems Emporium Central Committee, presided over its meeting in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.

The members of work committees and the Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association reviewed the previous emporiums, and discussed preparations for sale events in the post-COVID-19, depending on the situations of the pandemic.

The committee could not organize an emporium scheduled for January 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19, although it held a preparatory meeting on 9 December 2019.

MNA

(Translated by Aung Khin)

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A ceremony to donate cash to COVID-19 vaccination fund was held at the Ministry of Planning, Finance and Industry in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.

At the event, donors explained the purpose of the donation, and Chairman of the Fund Management Sub-committee on the Purchase of COVID-19 Vaccines and Union Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Soe Win expressed thanks to the donors for their contributions.

The Union Minister and Deputy Minister accepted the cash donated by well-wishers and returned certificates of honour to the donors.

Members of the Fund Management Sub-committee on the Purchase of COVID-19 Vaccines Deputy Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and Directors-General and donors who contributed cash between K100 million and K10 million participated in the event.

A Myanmar Currency Account and a Foreign Currency Account were opened at the Myanma Economic Bank in Nay Pyi Taw for COVID-19 Vaccination Fund, and the two accounts were initially deposited K1 billion and US$250 million from State-funding.

Cash contributions from local and foreign donors have been accepted since 6 January. Until 20 January, the cash contributions from local and foreign donors to the vaccination fund amounted to K17,781.337 million and US$ 2.745 million.

Names of the donors have been published in daily newspapers, and local and foreign well-wishers were making cash contributions daily to the vaccination fund.

MNA

(Translated by Kyaw Zin Tun)

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The Ministry of Border Affairs and the Japan-Myanmar Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a human resource development project in the border area at the ministry in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.

Union Minister for Border Affairs Lt-Gen Ye Aung made an opening remark at the signing ceremony, and Chair of Japan-Myanmar Association Mr Watanabe Hideo explained the matters relating to the MoU.

Deputy Minister for Border Affairs Major-General Phone Myat and Chair of Japan-Myanmar Association Mr Watanabe Hideo signed the MoU.

During the two years of 2021 and 2020, the ministry and the association, using US$ 0.97 million, will jointly create job opportunities by conducting elderly care trainings for ethnic nationals in border areas.

MNA

(Translated by Kyaw Zin Tun)

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Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing accorded a guard-of-honour welcome to Army General Sergey K.Shoigu, Minister for Defence of Russian Federation, in front Zeyathiri Villa, Nay Pyi Taw, yesterday morning.

Those at the welcoming ceremony were Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice-Senior General Soe Win, Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy and Air) General Mya Tun Oo, Commander-in-Chief (Navy) Admiral Tin Aung San, Commander-in-Chief (Air) General Maung Maung Kyaw, senior Tatmadaw officers of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, Deputy Minister for Defence Maj-Gen Myint Nwe, Russian Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Nikolay Listopadov, Russian Deputy Defence Minister Colonel General Alexander V. Fomin, his senior officers and the Russian military attaché in Myanmar.

The meeting was also held at the parlour of Zeyathiri Villa, according to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services.

MNA

(Translated by Aung Khin)

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A total of 1.5 million doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) arrived at the Yangon International Airport yesterday.

On the government-to-government basis, the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines from India was transported to Myanmar by Air India.

Indian Ambassador Mr Shri Saurabh Kumar handed over the 1.5 million doses of the Covishield vaccines to Director-General from Medical Research Department Professor Dr Zaw Than Tun at the Yangon International Airport.

Regarding the assistance to Myanmar, the Indian Ambassador said that India is providing the home-made vaccines to the partner countries, including Myanmar. He also quoted the Prime Minister of India as saying that India’s vaccine would be useful for fighting the pandemic.

Deputy Director-General of Yangon Region’s Public Health Department Dr Tun Myint said, “It is still necessary to be careful of COVID-19 after being vaccinated the first time. Prevention guidelines are still required to be abided by until the second dose of vaccine is received to avoid the waste of valuable medicines.”

“The vaccines need to be stored in the room temperatures of 2 to 8°C. As some of the previous vaccines were stored in the cool chain room, it is not a problem for the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccines will be transported to the central cool chain room and distributed to regions and states,” he added.

The government of India donated the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccines to Myanmar in enhancing Myanmar-India relations and helping Myanmar in the fights against the pandemic.

Second batch of the vaccines will soon arrive in Myanmar.

MNA

(Translated by Kyaw Zin Tun)

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UNION Minister for Education Dr Myo Thein Gyi joined the opening ceremony of batch 2 of Certificate in Educational Management online course via videoconferencing yesterday afternoon.

The batch 1 of CEM online course was conducted for 8 weeks.

In his opening remark, the Union Minister said that the second course would include basic educational concepts, human resource management, research and planning, reform management and communication skill.

He continued to say that the course will be helpful for the trainee officers in practical management.

The Union Minister also explained the importance of responsibility and accountability with collective strength to ensure quality education that meets with 21st-Century situations, and that supports the establishment of a Democratic Federal Union for all-inclusive education in ethnic areas, while the government is working for the appointment of more teachers in line with the guidelines and setting up more infrastructures.

The Ministry of Education is encouraging the capacity building of teachers, conducting applied research and writing research papers in journals, while conducting teaching-learning courses such as high-tech learning, high touch learning and blended learning.

The Union Minister emphasized that officials who are taking up the role of management are the key players in implementing of the educaiton sector, and that these persons need to avoid bias and follow fair management to win the trust of teachers, students and all the people.

He also advised to have loving-kindness and sympathy in working for the academic and administrative sectors, to collaborate with each other in line with the existing laws and regulations.

The second batch of course will be conducted from 18 January to 18 March 2021.

MNA

(Translated by Aung Khin)

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THE Ministry of Health and Sports organized the opening ceremony of 49th Myanmar Health Research Congress via videoconferencing yesterday morning.

Followed by the opening remark by Professor Dr Zaw Than Tun, Director-General of Department of Medical Research, Union Minister Dr Myint Htwe delivered a speech and explained the reason of congress which will be held until 21 January under the theme of ‘Fighting Together against COVID-19’.

The congress will share medical experiences in relation to the COVID-19 and will exchange views on the betterment of existing strategies and working processes in handling this pandemic.

The Union Minister advises the Department of Medical Research to hold online discussions among researchers of new medical generations, departmental officials and experts from universities, while the Department of Public Health is organizing the regular ‘Friday Health Talk’ every Friday evening.

He also highlighted some considerable success of the Department of Medical Research during the term of incumbent government from April 2016 to now.

The National Health Research Plan was adopted in 2017 based on the changing trend of Myanmar healthcare sector, research development, outbreak of various diseases and global situations.

The government has budgeted K4.696 billion for setting up the Training Centre for Research Capacity Building, and it is expected to be complete in September this year.

The Union Minister also suggested designing research curricula in the courses of 16 universities and 53 nursing and midwives training schools.

The ‘Lesson Learnt from COVID-19 Pandemic Symposium’ was presided by the Union Minister and the Director-General, and senior medical officials presented their topics in relation to medical treatments in COVID-19.

During the congress from 18 to 21 January, 28 basic research papers, 32 applied research papers, 29 healthcare system research papers and 75 research posters will be discussed.

The best research papers at the congress will be given the awards of K1 million, K800,000 and K600,000.

MNA

(Translated by Aung Khin)

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UNION Minister for Labour, Immigration and Population U Thein Swe presided over the meeting via videoconferencing to conduct the year-end review on the EU Myan Ku Fund for garment sector in relation to COVID-19 and the future plans yesterday.

The meeting was also taken part by Deputy Minister U Myint Kyaing, the directors-general and officials, EU Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Ranieri Sabatucci, Director of UNOPS Mr Andrew Kirkwood, Executive Director Dr Zaw Oo from the Centre for Economic and Social Development, employers’ agents and employees representatives.

In his speech, the Union Minister expressed thanks for Euro 5 million contributions of the European Union for rapid financial assistance to garment sector workers laid off amid the recent economic fallout from the COVID-19 epidemic, and over K4 billion cash assistance through EU Myan Ku Fund for over 60,000 workers in garment, footwear and textile industries.

The government is implementing the Overcoming as One: COVID-19 Economic Relief PlanCERP with the participation of ministries and working to adopt the Myanmar Economic Recovery and Reform Plan (MERRP), while putting emphasis on the social protection for the workers.

The ministry has given out more than K65 billion to over 1.5 million insured workers from the suspended businesses from 20 April 2020 to 12 January 2021 during the first wave and the second wave of COVID-19.

The European Union has planned to provide an additional Euro5 million for the unemployed workers, while the Myanmar government is struggling to contain of the pandemic and economic recovery of the country simultaneously.

The EU Ambassador explained the financial assistance; the Director of UNOPS talked about the Myan Ku Fund, and the Executive Director of CESD presented the salient points in research findings on the workers who experienced the negative impacts of COVID-19 outbreak.

The employers’ agents and employee representatives also discussed their problems during the pandemic.

MNA

(Translated by Aung Khin)

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THE National ICT Awards 2019 (Educational Project & Skills Competitions) Award Ceremony, jointly organized by the Ministry of Education and the Myanmar Computer Federation (MCF), was held online yesterday morning.

During the ceremony, Union Minister for Education Dr Myo Thein Gyi said that the National ICT Award (Educational Project) competitions had been held since 2004 and the Skills Competitions were included since the 2016-2017 academic year.

The competitions are held at various levels: primary school level, middle school level, high school level, teacher-level and professional-level.

The competitions are aimed at promoting ICT skills of students and teachers, according to the Union Minister, who called on the teachers to use the award-winning projects as teaching aids. He said that the teachers and students should study the projects well and make the best use of ICT.

He said that the competitions would enhance students’ 21-century competencies, skills and abilities. In the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Award Ceremony 2019, a Myanmar team organized by the MCF won the Merit Award in the Junior Student Category, said the Union Minister.

He urged the contestants of the National ICT Awards 2019 to try their best not to miss the opportunity to advance to the international level. He continued that the MCF, education officials and teachers made great contributions to hold the competitions in order to promote students' 21st-century skills and their creativity.

The MCF Chairperson U Min Zeyar Hlaing also delivered a speech at the ceremony.

During the ceremony, a documentary featuring the National ICT Awards 2019 (Educational Project & Skills Competition) was shown, and the winners were awarded online. During the event, the MCF’s Capacity Building Committee Chairperson Daw Aye Aye Thin explained the competitions, and Director-General U Ko Lay Win from the Department of Basic Education expressed thanks to all stakeholders.

MNA

Photo: MNA

(Translated by Maung Maung Swe)

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