Nearly 40 border officials quarantined for testing after 9 migrant workers they arrested test positive for Covid

Nearly 40 officials in Songkhla, a southern Thai province, are quarantined for testing after 9 out of 14 illegal Burmese migrant workers, whom the officials arrested previously, tested positive for Covid. The migrant workers were arrested by immigration police and administrative officials at a border section near Ban Rai Tok, opposite the Kedah State of Malaysia, on Saturday. The workers were waiting to allegedly be smuggled into Malaysia.

When the migrant workers were tested, it was revealed 9 of the workers had contracted Covid. They were then taken to a hospital for treatment. The 5 remaining workers were administered a second test. The results are currently pending. Due to the migrant workers testing positive for Covid, 40 others involved in their arrest and processing are now quarantined, including police, soldiers, and administrative officials.

The Thaiger had previously written about the migrant workers’ arrest. They had been arrested in 2 groups, 1 group was being transported in a truck that police stopped, the other group was hiding in some brush. They said they paid about 45,000 baht to obtain jobs in Malaysia.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post