Myanmar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications on Friday further extended the suspension of international commercial flights until the end of January 2022.

The extension was made as an effort to continue curbing the spread of COVID-19 through air travel, the ministry’s announcement said, Xinhua reported.

The Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment for COVID-19 also issued an order of extending the period for COVID-19 preventive measures until January 31, 2022.

The extension will be applied to all orders, announcements, directives previously issued by the respective union level government organizations and ministries in order to contain the spread of the viral disease, the announcement said.

According to a release from the Ministry of Health on Friday, Myanmar reported 189 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 530,834 so far.

With three new deaths, the death toll has increased to 19,268 on Friday.

A total of 508,232 patients have been discharged from hospitals so far.

Myanmar detected its first two COVID-19 positive cases on March 23, 2020.