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Thailand mulls lockdown as coronavirus surge blamed on Myanmar workers
- Some 1,300 new infections have been recorded since Sunday, mostly from migrant workers at shrimp farms in Samut Sakhon, just outside Bangkok
- Authorities have imposed a ‘Singapore-style model’ to curb the workers’ movements amid fears the cluster could cripple the kingdom’s already battered economy
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Migrant rights groups have urged Thais to empathise with foreign workers who staff the multibillion-dollar fishing industry, as illegal entrants from Myanmar have been blamed for a record surge in Covid-19 cases that threatens to undo months of successful efforts to contain the pandemic.
Thailand has reported more than 1,300 new coronavirus cases since Sunday, with some 80 per cent of them being migrant workers at shrimp farms in Samut Sakhon, just outside the capital. Linked cases have also been found across the country.
Four provinces, including Samut Sakhon, have been locked down, with health authorities imposing a “Singapore-style model” of restricting migrant workers from entering or leaving their dormitories.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said workers from Myanmar who had “snuck in and out” of Thailand without the mandatory quarantine were behind the latest outbreak, but raised the prospect that officials had helped them cross the 2,500-kilometre border.
“Those who committed wrongdoing – including government officials – must face legal charges,” he said.
Still, a Twitter hashtag in Thai, “Covid Samut Sakhon”, has exploded with snipes at Myanmar workers by a public that depends on its neighbours for cheap, manual labour but routinely denigrates them.
One Twitter user posted a picture of migrant workers queuing up for coronavirus testing with the caption, “Do I still live in Thailand?”, while another said, “You should go back to Yangon”.
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