The following is an exclusive interview with H.E. Mr Ly Quoc Tuan, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

ASIA has registered more than 100,000 deaths linked to the new coronavirus since it first emerged in December, according to an AFP tally based on official sources at 0800 GMT on Thursday.

Wagaung (August) is the 5th month of Myanmar lunar calendar. Myanmar is a tropical country with three seasons namely hot season (gein hman) rainy season (wathan) and cold season (hei man). Wagaung falls in the rainy season. The word ‘Wagaung’ is a combination of two words ‘Wa’ and ‘Khaung’. Wa means Buddhist lent and Khaung means middle or peak. So, Wagaung implies the middle or the peak of the Buddhist lent which covers three months of rainy season namely Waso (July), Wagaung (August) and Tawthalin (September). In the stone inscriptions of the Bagan Period another word for Wagaung was used. It was “Nan Kala” (နံကာလ) which means the time for ploughing, or the planting season, or the month for agricultural activities. There is a Myanmar folk rhyme which aptly describes this season “ဝါဆို၊ ဝါခေါင်၊ ရေဖောင်ဖောင်” (In Waso and Wagaung there are billows of rain water). As these two months are the peak of rainy season the countryside is inundated with rain water. Astrological name of Wagaung is Simha (သိဟ်) (Leo) and its zodiacal sign is lion. In this month in daytime the Sun and the Hpou Sha stars and at night the Moon and Tharawun stars rival in their radiance. Although all lilies and most trees and plants burst forth into bloom,khat-tar or land lily (Crinum amoenum) is traditionally marked as the flower of Wagaung.

The Corona Virus 19 Pandemic has affected countries around the world. With leading epidemiologists predicting that the pandemic will be around and continue spreading until an effective vaccine is developed, concern has been raised that humanity will have to adjust to a “New Normal” way of life to live in the Corona Virus-19 Pandemic period.

The article on “Sarpay Beikman” carried by the GNLM on 25th of July 2020 was interesting as

“Our best way forward is to stick with science, solutions and solidarity and together we can overcome this pandemic,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged earlier this month.

THE coronavirus pandemic has pushed most of the world’s major economies into unprecedented contractions in the second quarter, except for China which escaped a recession.

IT SEEMS that hotels in Myanmar will soon be allowed to accept local travellers after inspection by the authorities as to their compliance with the Ministry of Health’s stipulations to guard against the spread of the Corona virus. Perhaps it is an impetus for local people to engage in travelling to “discover” more about their history and culture, and to put up at the various hotels during halts in the course of their travels and tours.

With the rain-induced swollen rivers and creeks, floods hit low-lying areas in lower Myanmar and governments and organizations are putting disaster preparedness and response plans into action.

The return of thousands of Myanmar’s migrant workers from Thailand has placed our country at a high risk of spreading the COVID-19 infection.

It is not a normal situation when thousands of people return from a country which is experiencing the Coronavirus infection. The returnees might carry the Coronavirus with them and could first infect their own families, then spread the virus to others.