Death is not alien to these tens of thousands of residents, having seen relatives and friends killed or wounded by landmines or artillery shells that landed right on their villages.

Amid the spike of COVID-19 cases in the country, which stood at 94 as of 8am on April 18, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi assured that the government would leave no one behind in the fight against the deadly disease.

She urged the people to adhere to the health ministry’s instructions, which would be circulated five times a day in the community and warned that anyone who flouts the rules would face government action according to law.

But this has little meaning to people in conflict zones, who are on the run every day to escape bullets and artillery shells.

They have no time to wash their hands, worry about social distancing, or even worry about fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Their primordial concern is to stay alive for another day.

“The government asked us to stay at home, but we are running away from our houses to keep us safe,” said U Sar Doe Aung, a resident of Kyauk Seik village in Rakhine’s Ponnagyun township, one of the epicentres of the clashes between the Arakan Army and Tatmadaw (military) forces. “How can we stay at home during the fighting?”

On April 13, three relatives of U Sar Doe Aung were among the eight civilians killed in clashes between the AA and the Tatmadaw.

Thirteen other civilians were injured after artillery shells exploded in the village at the height of the fighting.

“My three family members died when an artillery shell exploded in my house, ” he said.

Due to the fighting, over 2,000 civilians fled their homes. U Sar Doe Aung is staying with 40 men in a village near Nat Chaung village, in Myebon Township.

“Villagers are laughing when we say COVID-19 has spread in Myanmar,” U San Kyaw Hla, speaker of the Rakhine parliament, told The Myanmar Times. “For them, there is nothing more worrisome that being blown to pieces when the next artillery shell explodes.”

He said there are COVID-19 awareness signboards in every village, in every IDP camp in conflict areas, "but people are too weary, tired and desensitised to have a second look at it”.

“There is nothing more fearful to them than the ongoing fighting,” he said.

U Hwei Tin, an Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House) legislator from Paletwa Township in nearby Chin State, said that welfare ministry workers also distributed education materials about COVID-19 in IDP camps and issued guidelines on how to prevent COVID-19.

“To them, it is only a distribution of brochures. Compliance with health guidelines is impossible for refugees who are sleeping in a small room without mosquito nets,” he said, noting that the imminent threat to the refugees is malaria, not COVID-19.

U Soe Htwe, Minister of Development Affairs of Chin State, admitted the lack of health staff and transportation made it difficult to replicate the central government’s instructions on COVID-19 in the IDP camps in Chin.

He expressed hope that the lack of access to most of these refugee camps from the outside world would help in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

 U Hwei Tin, who was held captive for a few months by the Arakan Army earlier in the year, insisted that the shutdown of internet access in their township, and in other areas in nearby Rakhine is a concern among the people.

Aside from Paletwa, the government cut off internet services in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathaedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk U, Minbya, Myebon townships in Rakhine due to intensified clashes.

"The loss of access to social networks, as well as the lack of widespread access to health services, are a serious threat in the war-torn areas," he said.

While the government does not argue about the widespread lack of access to health services, it is firm on blocking internet access in the strife-torn areas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs insisted there is a need to block the internet in those areas as rebels allegedly use the technology to plot and coordinate attacks and even detonate landmines.

It added that the government’s campaign against COVID-19 is not hampered by the internet shutdown, as relevant authorities can communicate through SMS and mobile phones, which still service these areas. They can also reach out to the people through radio and television.

The military also rejected appeals by local and foreign groups to declare a ceasefire, to focus on the fight against the pneumonia-like disease, noting that last year when they declared a unilateral ceasefire, armed groups ignored the truce and kept attacking government outposts.

Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the Tatmadaw’s True News agency, described the proposal as “not realistic” and just urged the ethnic armed groups to follow the law.

Aside from Rakhine and Chin, another conflict zone in Myanmar is Shan and Kachin states where thousands of refugees are also living in IDP camps.

The Karen Peace Support Network issued a statement on April 16 lambasting the government and the military for refusing to heed the ceasefire call.

“Sadly in ethnic states including Karen, the government and its security forces are drastically increasing the vulnerability of the people to the deadly virus because of the military brutal offensive attack on communities without caring calls of ceasefire from ethnic armed organizations, ethnic political parties, civil society, and the United Nations,” it said in a statement.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarians Affairs, there is an estimated 241,000 displaced people in the country, of which 77 percent are woman and children, who remain in camps or camps-like situation in Kachin, Kayin, Shan and Rakhine states.

The internally displaced persons include approximately 92,000 in Kachin, 15,000 in Shan 5,600 in Kayin, about 129,000 people in Rakhine and thousands more in Chin.

U Hwei Tin is worried about the prospect of a COVID-19 outbreak at the IDP camps, where all the people are very vulnerable yet too engrossed in their daily survival to care about it.

“If COVID-19 spreads in the IDP camps, many refugees will surely die,” he warned. - With additional reporting by Khin Su Wai