The Covid-19 surge with hundreds of infections in Samut Sakhon and other provinces has come as a profound shock.
The outbreak followed the detection of one infection, a 67-year-old female wholesaler in Samut Sakhon's Central Shrimp Market. The case is related to infections in Myanmar migrants in the province, which is a seafood trading hub. As a result, Samut Sakhon, part of the Greater Bangkok area, has been placed under lockdown, albeit partially, since Saturday as health authorities work against time to end the outbreak.
As of yesterday, the number of infections among migrants in Samut Sakhon rose to 821, while 5,838 were negative; and results for another 2,827 are pending. Three cases related to the shrimp market have been confirmed in Saraburi, in addition to cases in Bangkok (4), Nakhon Pathom (2), and Samut Prakan (3).
All at once, state agencies have become proactive after months of leniency regarding virus control, a terribly wrong strategy that could prove very costly as the country is at risk of another lockdown.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha instructed health authorities to come up with a working plan in case the country has to go into lockdown, Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesperson of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), said yesterday.
Health personnel and local authorities have meanwhile rolled out certain measures. In Samut Sakhon, they have sealed off the market and a dormitory to prevent migrants leaving. This means thousands of migrants are forced to stay together in cramped conditions that put them at greater risk of infection. Thais in Samut Sakhon can still travel, but they must inform local authorities first. But it's unclear if this measure for Thais can be enforced.
Such a double standard brings up the question of whether the migrants are being discriminated against.
Dr Taweesilp said on Sunday that sealing off of the dormitory is not unusual. He cited Singapore, where infections were found among mostly South Asian migrants, which did the same. But Singapore is a city state with a limited area. Thailand is different as there is more space for quarantine sites.
Other agencies like the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) have had no hesitation in implementing discriminatory measures. Yesterday, the city asked all religious places not to allow migrants to make merit "until the situation is better", among other instructions. With such a blanket order, the city is stigmatising migrants. Is this fair?
If anyone is to be prevented from entering places of worship, it must be because they do not follow anti-Covid measures, not because they are foreigners.
The need to contain the outbreak is understandable, but measures must be efficient, practical and proportionate. On top of that, they must not discriminate and instead be internationally acceptable.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), migrant workers make up an estimated one in every 10 workers in Thailand, and they generate up to 6.6% of the kingdom's GDP. They clearly make enormous contributions to the economy.
The Samut Sakhon Chamber of Commerce said the lockdown will cost the province one billion baht a day. Sales by the seafood industry, where 90% of workers are migrants, amount to 400–500 million baht a day there.
Officials should review every discriminatory measure that does not help in curbing the disease, but instead unnecessarily inflict pains on those who help drive the national economy.