Workers caught attempting to flee camps as new restrictions take effect

With PM Prayut Chan-o-cha imposing sudden and unexpected restrictions, including orders for factories at risk of a Covid-19 outbreak to use the so-called “bubble and seal” method, workers have been attempting to flee the camps to escape being stuck at the site for a month. Some were caught and forced to return as they were trying to leave the area.

The “bubble and seal” method has been used at factories and construction camps in Thailand where there has been a Covid-19 outbreak. Workers are required to stay onsite for a month, even if they aren’t infected. The method is intended to contain the virus, but allow the work to continue.

Police were called to the factory in the Nonthaburi area to block both the entrance and the exit to the factory. According to Thai media, village chief Somyot Wichakorn had called officials to surround the camp after some of the workers escaped.

Under the measures, factories in Bangkok and surrounding provinces, including Nonthaburi, are ordered to restrict worker movement by using the bubble and seal method. Reports in Thai media say officials were setting up checkpoints in the area when they saw foreign workers carrying personal belongings to vehicles, preparing to travel back home. The workers were told to go back to their camp.

At another camp where more than 1,700 migrant workers live, many were caught as they were driving out of the site in trucks with their personal belongings packed.

SOURCE: Thai Residents