121 Thais to cross border and return home from Myanmar this week
More than 100 Thais in Myanmar's Tachileik town have contacted officials to return to their country, while some young women are still trying to sneak in through natural channels, an official said.
After the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus in Tachileik, which borders Mae Sai district in Tak province, many Thai people who had been working in entertainment venues in the Myanmar town have been wanting to return home.
Recently, 84 Thai people returned to Thailand through the permanent border checkpoint at the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.
In addition, there are also those who coordinate through The Border Consortium of Thai-Myanmar (TBC) to return across the border.
TBC said 121 people will return to Thailand by crossing the border on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
It is estimated that hundreds of Thais are still staying back in Tachileik. Thai security officials are trying to find those crossing over illegally across the border to bring them into the normal system quickly to prevent further risk of the pandemic spreading.
TBC of Thailand and Myanmar are working together to bring the stranded Thais back more conveniently, an official said. All Thais will be brought into the quarantine system through quarantine accommodation or state local quarantine at Mae Sai district.
However, there are still a number of young Thai women who are unable to return with normal coordination or do not have access to information, but they are attempting to return to Thailand through natural channels. As the entertainment venue in Tachileik has been shut down due to the outbreak, living there has become difficult. The number of Covid-19 cases in Chiang Rai as of December 6 has increased to 20.