21 Thais test positive for Covid-19 after allegedly crossing the Thai-Myanmar border illegally
21 Thai returnees tested positive for Covid-19 after they were detained for allegedly crossing the Thai-Myanmar border illegally, fleeing from a Covid-19 outbreak at the Sky Complex Casino where they had worked. The returnees are now in quarantine at a Mae Sot district hospital.
Around 300 Thais work at the casino in the neighbouring country’s Myawaddy town just across the Moei River from Tak’s Mae Sot district. Since news of the rise in coronavirus cases just across the river, Thai officials prepared and even reopened a border checkpoint to allow Thais to return home, as long as they go through a mandatory quarantine.
Director general of the Disease Control Department Opas Kankawinpong says they expect hundreds of Thai workers to pass through the border checkpoint.
“We have estimated hundreds of Thais are stuck there. We don’t know how many of them have been infected.”
He says the border checkpoint is reopened to prevent people from “sneaking” in and potentially spreading the virus. Many have been concerned with border breaches after Thai returnees from Myanmar’s Tachileik district tested positive after entering the country illegally as well as the large cluster of Covid-19 cases at a Samut Sakhon seafood market, affecting a large migrant community.
“There will be no more Thai people sneaking into Mae Sot as their illegal movement could pose health dangers to residents in the district and the country.”
SOURCE: Thairath Online| Bangkok Post
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