The Ministry of Health and Sports has announced its first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Myanmar. At the time of writing, three people have tested positive for the disease. The first two cases, both Myanmar citizens, were a 26-year-old man arriving from the United Kingdom and a 36-year-old man returning from a permanent residence in the United States. Both men began showing symptoms outside of Yangon. The 36-year-old was diagnosed in Tedim, Chin State, and the 26-year-old was first quarantined in Hlegu (between Yangon and Bago). A few days later, another 26-year-old man tested positive after he returned from the UK.

The confirmed cases have been met with new measures to curtail the spread of the disease. The government has closed land border crossings, although some were kept open long enough to allow migrant workers to return home. Several embassies have urged their citizens to return to their own countries, and the United States has recalled scores of Peace Corps volunteers. The military announced that it will soon devote 17 armed forces hospitals to treating coronavirus patients.

Before the positive tests, Myanmar had been one of the only countries in Asia with no officially-reported cases, even as the number of patients around the world approached the 400,000 mark. Myanmar was not immune to the economic impacts, however, as the tourism industry collapsed almost overnight, border trade stalled with China and other neighbors, and factories began to slow production and cut workers.