By -Sai Hseng Leang

Over 60 migrant workers arrived in Shan State’s capital, Taunggyi, this Monday (September 21) from Mongla, in Burma’s Special Region 4, located in eastern Shan State.

Khun Thet Naung, deputy head of General Administration Development (GAD) for Taunggyi, told SHAN that returnees will rest in the capital for a while before being sent to their home regions, where they will be placed in quarantine facilities.

Not everyone could afford to pay their transportation costs, Khun Thet Naung said, in which case the government covered their bus fare.

Over 5,000 workers have passed through Taunggyi since April, just after Burma closed its borders, introducing a partial lockdown to prevent transmission of the coronavirus. Most returned via Friendship Bridge from the Thai city of Mae Sot, opposite Myawaddy in Karen State. Once in Taunggyi, the Shan State government provided them with temporary shelter and food.

The Ministry of Health and Sports reported 6,471 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Burma at 8 a.m. on September 22, while there were 100 deaths and 1,445 recoveries.