Since February 1, health workers have been at the forefront of dissent against the military junta, many having followed a movement of civil disobedience and deserted their posts.

Ree Moe, 27, quit her job at a public hospital soon after the coup and in June began volunteering in eastern Kayah state, where the military and anti-militias junta clash regularly.

"When the fighting starts, we have to run and hide in the jungle," she told AFP in a clinic set up in a school abandoned due to the fighting near the town of Demoso.

"I was told that there were not many doctors and medical workers in this area, and the villagers were asking for them," she said.

"So I made the decision to come, and I tried to get my hands on some medical equipment."

After a major surge in June-July, the junta says new daily cases of Covid can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and the Omicron variant has yet to appear in the Southeast Asian country.

Nurses examine children for symptoms of Covid-19 on October 17, 2021 in Kayah state, Myanmar STR AFP

But in Kayah state alone, around 85,000 people have fled their homes due to the violence, according to the UN refugee agency, and many are crowding into camps where infections can spread quickly.

In one village, Ree Moe's team performs swab tests, separated from patients by a simple plastic stretched over a bamboo frame.

Positive cases are given paracetamol for fever and pain and food supplements such as vitamin D.

Crammed into camps

That's about all they can get.

Oxygen cylinders are scarce and are used sparingly.

To fill them, you have to travel to Loikaw, the state capital, and pass junta checkpoints on the road.

After each patient, Ree Moe removes her PPE suit and disinfects it, along with her mask, to be ready for the next.

Nurses treat Covid-19 patients on October 17, 2021 in Kayah state, Burma STR AFP

Alone in an empty classroom, a fighter who has contracted the virus spends his quarantine strumming a guitar.

According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, the military has blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to areas where resistance to the military regime is strong.

"The Burmese military is checking everyone at their gates and arresting people they find carrying medicine," said Sar Say Hae Sein, 23, another nurse working in the jungle.

Patients in front of a campaign clinic on October 17, 2021 in Kayah state, Burma STR AFP

With each trip, "it's like risking your life".

In the six months following the coup, 190 health workers were arrested and 25 killed, according to a report by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights and Johns Hopkins University.

But Ree Moe says she will continue.

“The support of my parents keeps me strong,” she says.

"My father sent as much medicine as he could."

© 2021 AFP