YANGON: Myanmar authorities are racing to build a field hospital in the commercial capital of Yangon to cope with a surge of COVID-19 infections that doctors fear threatens to overwhelm the country's fragile health system.

The Southeast Asian nation reported 307 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday (Sep 15), its highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic in March, and another 134 on Wednesday morning, taking the total to 3,636 cases and 39 deaths.