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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National
POST REPORTERS

Border areas on high alert after Covid cases surge in Myanmar

Security authorities patrol the Moei River in Tak province to prevent illegal immigration. Photo by ASSAWIN PINITWONG

The Ministry of Public Health is worried about Covid-19 infections in Myanmar following predictions that the virus could reach the Thai-Myanmar border in the next two weeks.

The director of the Division of Communicable Diseases, Sophon Iamsirithavorn, said the Covid-19 situation in Myanmar was a great concern as the country was now reporting more than 100 cases per day in many cities.

The disease had started to spread from Rakhine state on the west coast to the central region, he said, and although Myanmar's Covid-19 hotspots were still far from Thailand, it was forecast that the virus would spread to the border areas in two weeks' time.

Dr Sophon said stringent measures had already been put in place along the border.


   
Meanwhile, three Cambodian men were arrested while crawling under razor-wire barriers from Poipet in Cambodia and all were immediately screened for the virus.

They admitted trying to sneak into Thailand to sell goods at the market, saying they used to be stall vendors there but the pandemic had prevented them from reentering Thailand for more than four months.

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