By Sai Hseng Hlaing/SHAN

Dozens of migrant workers arrested in Thailand and sent back to Burma this Friday (August 28) will be quarantined on the border before the government allows them to return home.

“We’ll allow them to return to their township after they test negative for COVID-19. All 78 Burmese migrant workers will stay at a quarantine facility in Tachileik,” explained Chan Myae Saw, the general administration development (GAD) officer for Tachileik Township.

Fifty-six men and twenty-three women are being quarantined at the Mogok Meditation Center in the southern Shan State town.

More than 100 migrant workers who have completed their quarantine in Tachileik, after returning from Thailand, were sent to Taunggyi on Friday. Ko Win Naing Soe, who works with a Taunggyi volunteer group, told SHAN they will be sent home by bus. More than 20 of the migrant workers are from Taunggyi Township.

The government’s Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) reported on August 29 that there were 656 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Burma, while 349 recovered and 6 died. There are 7,343 who are being monitored for symptoms of the coronavirus in the country.