Taxi driver ‘not afraid of virus’ makes pagoda pilgrimage

Fearless: Ko Naing in front of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. — Reuters

DEFYING the threat of contracting coronavirus and a citywide lockdown, Myanmar taxi driver Ko Naing, 50, still travels each day to pray outside the sacred Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the country’s holiest Buddhist site.

“I’m not scared of the virus because I feel protected by my religion and regular praying at the pagoda, ” he said, kneeling at the front gate of the pagoda.