migrant workers
- Crime News
Police raid factory, arrest man and detain 11 migrant workers
After announcing a crackdown on labour traffickers, police arrested a Chinese man who allegedly illegally operated a rubber glove factory and employed undocumented migrants. After a spike in Covid-19 cases involving more than 1,000 migrant workers in Samut Sakhon, many who worked in the Mahachai area fishing hub, police said they would investigate migrant trafficking and make major arrests. Before…
- World News
Thai government urged to offer amnesty to illegal migrants and their employers
The Thai government is being urged to grant amnesty to undocumented migrant workers in the Kingdom and to extend the reprieve to their employers. The call has been picked up by a number of Thai media outlets, as well as Thai citizens concerned about the latest Covid-19 outbreak. Those calling for the amnesty say it would stop workers fleeing quarantine…
- World News
Officials on the hunt for corrupt border guards blamed for Covid spread
The Thai PM, Prayut Chan-o-cha, has put the Deputy Defence Minister in charge of hunting down crooked border officials whose corruption is thought to be behind the latest Covid-19 outbreak. With most of the new infections detected in Burmese migrant workers in the central province of Samut Sakhon, it’s believed many have been smuggled into Thailand illegally, bypassing mandatory quarantine.…
- Thailand News
Samut Sakhon employer allegedly “dumps” migrant workers at a highway outside Bangkok
A group of Burmese migrant workers ended up on the side of a highway near Bangkok after their employer allegedly told them to get in a van to go get tested for Covid-19. The incident caught media attention as many coronavirus prevention measures focused on migrant workers were recently imposed after hundreds of workers at a seafood market in Samut…
- Thailand News
High number of Thai migrant worker deaths in South Korea
Hundreds of Thais in South Korea have died in the past 5 years, many from “unknown causes,” according to data reported by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The majority of recorded deaths are migrants, who are less likely to report abuse or have access to healthcare. The report from Reuters prompted the United Nations to look into the cases as well…
- Covid-19 News
Something fishy about the Samut Sakhon Covid outbreak – who’s responsible?
Here are 2 resources for the above story… https://thethaiger.com/news/national/… http://www.rapid-asia.com/blog/forced… Until the weekend many people would have never heard of Samut Sakhon, a province just south west of Greater Bangkok and sharing a provincial border with the capital. The province is best known as a major hub for Thailand’s shrimp and fishing industry, packed with markets around the coastal tributaries…
- Covid-19 News
UPDATE: Thai PM says lockdown could become unavoidable
Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha is warning that another lockdown could prove unavoidable, should Covid-19 figures escalate out of control. Today, 427 new Covid-19 cases were reported by the Centre Covid-19 Situation Administration, 397 of which are migrant workers. Yesterday, the CCSA reported 382 new cases, 360 of which are in migrant workers. Spokesperson Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin says 14 local cases…
- Covid-19 News
UPDATE: 1,000+ Samut Sakhon Covid-19 cases
More than 1,000 Covid-19 cases are linked to the outbreak in Samut Sakhon, just southwest of Bangkok, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. 242 cases were reported today, adding to the 821 previously confirmed cases, tallying up to 1,063. Since the surge of infections over the weekend, hitting a record high in daily cases, health officials have rolled…
- Covid-19 News
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration cancels NY countdown events, asks workers to work from home
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the municipal organisation in charge of the Greater Bangkok city area, has announced that all New Year countdown events have been cancelled after new cases of Covid-19 were found in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. But organisations who have already organised events will be able to ask for specific permission. The BMA is also asking the workers…
- Covid-19 News
Samut Sakhon outbreak reaches 689 cases, spreads to Bangkok and Samut Prakan
There’s been an update in Covid-19 cases stemming from the Samut Sakhon outbreak. Thailand’s Public Health Ministry have now upgraded the provincial cluster, including mostly Burmese migrant worker, to 689 cases, all identified through contact tracing. Most worked in and around the provinces coastal fishing market according to the Department of Disease Control. Some traced cases have been located in…
- Covid-19 News
Covid outbreak spreads- 10,000 people to be tested
Thailand has now confirmed 689 new coronavirus infections today, including 516 migrant worker cases linked to the outbreak in Samut Sakhon yesterday. In Bangkok, there are now 19 locally-infected cases being reported on top of the ones found in Samut Sakhon. There are also 41 imported cases being reported. Most of the cases reported were of Myanmar migrant workers with…
- World News
Government urged to let in 100,000 migrant workers from Myanmar despite Covid surge
The government in Thailand is being urged by larger Thai multinationals, and the construction and fisheries industry, to let in about 100,000 migrants from Myanmar, despite a recent surge in Covid-19 infections inside the kingdom. Officials say they will comply with the demands to let the migrant workers in, however, they will regulate their arrivals. Suebsakun Kidnukorn, an academic with…
- Covid-19 News
516 cases in one day – Samut Sakhon, Thailand’s new Covid-19 hotspot
UPDATE: Some publications are announcing Saturday’s daily total in Thailand as 576. We will update the precise number as more information becomes available. Thailand’s CCSA has announced more than 500 Covid-19 cases among migrant workers at the centre of its seafood industry, on an enormous 1-day rise in a country that had gone into mild panic after just 1 or…
- Covid-19 News
Health Minister points to migrant workers as likely source of virus in Samut Sakhon
Thai Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul says migrant workers are likely to be the reason behind a small Covid-19 outbreak in the central province of Samut Sakhon. After a 67 year old woman with no international travel history was found to be infected with Covid-19, 3 of her family members have also tested positive. According to a Bangkok Post report,…
- Thailand News
Report highlights glaring disparity among school-age children in Thailand
A report carried out by the National Statistical Office in collaboration with UNICEF has highlighted the significant inequality between children of school-going age in Thailand. Nation Thailand reports that, while students rallied outside the Education Ministry in Bangkok earlier this week, calling for reforms that include an end to strict uniform requirements, the biggest hurdle they face continues to be…
- World News
Phuket officials concerned about virus risk from undocumented migrant workers
The discovery that 3 Thai nationals infected with Covid-19 returned from Myanmar and bypassed health checks and quarantine, has officials in Phuket on high alert. Over the weekend, it was discovered that a 29 year old Thai woman had illegally crossed from Myanmar and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 after admitting herself to a Chiang Mai hospital. 2 other women…
- Thailand News
Thai woman arrested for offering fake visa services to hundreds of migrant workers
A 45 year old Thai woman has been arrested after offering fake visa services 10 hundreds of migrant workers, valued about 7 million baht. The woman, Wassana Wongkhamjan, was arrested at her house where police found around 40 passports and receipts inside. The house was the registered address of KPS Management Company. Wassana denied the public fraud charge saying she…
- Bangkok News
Crane rips roof off truck transporting migrant workers in Bangkok, injuring 9
9 migrant workers have been injured after a passing crane tore the roof off their truck on Bangkok’s Wireless Road. The incident occurred near the Japanese Embassy at around 9.30pm last night. Police and rescue workers who arrived at the scene found a 6-wheeler truck with its roof completely ripped off by a crane. Nation Thailand reports that, according to…
- World News
Singapore’s population contracts along with its GDP
The little south east Asian island nation of Singapore, which has always punched way above its weight, with the fourth largest economy, but the biggest GDP per capita in the region, is getting smaller. Both its economy and population. The population of the Republic of Singapore is shrinking for the first time since 2003. Border closures and, mostly, job losses, are…
- World News
Concerns over virus spread in boarding houses as Hong Kong records 95 new cases
Hong Kong has seen a slight uptick in Covid-19 infections, with a new daily total of 95 cases. A report in Coconuts says a domestic helper from Indonesia has tested positive for the virus after a stay in a boarding house. Such boarding houses are used by agencies in Hong Kong to accommodate domestic workers who are in between jobs.…
- Covid-19 News
Health officials highlight “second wave” risk posed by migrant workers
Following on the Thai government’s announcement that it will grant entry to several other categories of foreigners, the Public Health Ministry is highlighting the risk posed by migrant workers, in particular those entering the country illegally. The government is preparing special “migrant quarantine” facilities to house labourers coming in from neighbouring countries. However, the deputy director-general of the Disease Control…
- Covid-19 News
Illegal migrants workers bring fears of new Covid infections
After more than 3,000 illegal migrant workers were caught trying to enter Thailand, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration is warning that there is still a risk of new infections. CCSA spokesperson Dr. Taweesilp Visanuyothin says most of them have been detained and many have been sent back to their own countries but because they actually made it into the Kingdom,…
- Covid-19 News
Government says Cambodian workers should remain in Thailand during Covid-19
The director general of Thailand’s Employment Department, Suchart Phonchaiwisetkun, says Cambodian labourers should remain in Thailand while the fight against the Covid-19 goes on in the region. He was speaking following a meeting with the the Cambodian Ambassador, Ouk Sorphorn, where they discussed how Thailand would deal with its migrant workforce during the pandemic. According to a report in Nation…
- Covid-19 News
Covid task force orders strict hygiene measures for Bangkok construction sites
The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority has been ordered to implement tough hygiene and safety measures at construction sites in the capital, to prevent any resurgence of the Covid-19 virus. The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration says the city must take rigorous steps to mitigate the risk of workers contracting and spreading the virus. A report in Nation Thailand says city officials…
- World News
Singapore nurse leads Covid-19 patients in dance routine – VIDEO
A video posted online shows a Singaporean nurse at a Covid-19 isolation facility leading a group of patients in a morning dance routine. The patients are all migrant labourers now recovering after being treated for the virus. Singapore experienced an unexpected second wave of infections when over 20,000 migrant workers, all living in close proximity, caught the virus, with hundreds of…
- Covid-19 News
Phuket migrant workers permitted to return home
Some migrant workers were allowed to leave Phuket to return to their homes yesterday, as the provincial administration agreed to temporarily lift the travel ban so they could rejoin their families. One worker who hails from the nearby province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, told Thai PBS that he has been out of work for 2 months, and his family could…
- Covid-19 News
Stranded migrant workers can stay and work in Thailand, for now
Today the Thai Labour Ministy is allowing stranded workers from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to stay and work beyond the expiration date of their work permits, due to the recent closure of their borders. Labour Minister Mom Ratchawongse Chatumongol Sonakul says that the migrant workers are allowed to continue with their work until the borders reopen. “This decision will benefit…
- Thailand News
Starbucks investigate Thai garment factory after underpaid workers exposé
PHOTO: Eater.com An investigation is underway into 4 garment factories in Mae Sot, western Thailand, following the revelation that workers are illegally underpaid. It’s understood the factories provide clothing to Starbucks and U.S. sports gear manufacturer Bauer Hockey. The Thomson Reuters Foundation, who carried out the investigation, spoke to 26 workers from Myanmar, who say they’re paid less than Thailand’s…
