– As borders closed, many migrant workers from Myanmar working in Thailand tried to return to their country. Some didn’t make it in time, and are now stranded at the Mae Sai Thailand-Myanmar border crossing in Chiang Rai, waiting for Myanmar authorities to reopen the border.
The authorities decided to seal off the border in an effort to stop the transmission of coronavirus disease or COVID-19.
The stranded workers have been held in quarantine for a period of time at Phra That Doi Wao temple in Mae Sai district. Myanmar authorities allowed them to cross the border from Thailand. 23 vehicles were used to transport workers from the temple to the second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship bridge connecting Mae Sai with Myanmar’s Tachileik province.
181 Myanmar workers plus 10 Myanmar nationals received a medical screening while crossing the border. None of them showed any obvious symptoms of COVID-19. They are now in a quarantine facility in Myanmar located approximately two kilometers from the border, where they will be held for 14 days.
Myanmar authorities have announced they will not allow any person to cross the border until 15th April, as they are waiting for their quarantine facility to free up. There are still a number of Myanmar nationals left in Chiang Rai, which is expected to be the final group, as the province’s communicable diseases committee has already banned transportation of migrant workers into the province.
