The Immigration Bureau wants to remove 26 detained Rohingya women from an immigration centre in Songkhla, fearing they will catch Covid-19 inside its cramped detention facilities.
The removal plan was suggested as Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul yesterday led officials in inspecting the centre, which has been turned into a makeshift hospital since 42 illegal migrant workers and at least one immigration officer tested positive there last week.
"I've proposed the removal," Immigration Bureau chief Sompong Chingduang said as he met Mr Anutin.
The detainees should be moved to another facility in Hat Yai district in the province to help prevent a second outbreak at the immigration centre in Sadao district, said Pol Lt Gen Sompong.
The 26 Rohingya women are currently held on the second floor of the centre, which critics say puts the woman at risk of getting the disease.
"The detention area is too small to implement social distancing guidelines," Adisorn Kerdmongkol, of an immigrant labour network, said.
He and other labour rights advocates yesterday met Mr Anutin to discuss ways to prevent disease transmission among migrant workers.
The outbreak alarmed the government as it caused the daily number of new Covid-19 patients to spike last Saturday after several days of low numbers.
The migrants are from Myanmar (34), Vietnam (3), Malaysia (2), Yemen (1), Cambodia (1) and India (1), according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.
Thirty-six of them are being treated at the makeshift hospital while six others, including a pregnant Myanmar worker, were admitted to hospital, Pol Lt Gen Sompong said.
"We also need to quarantine 144 immigration officers," he said.
The isolation of those officers is needed after one of them, Pol Senior Sgt Maj Akkharadet Nuchin, developed a high fever. He later tested positive for Covid-19.
Health checks on five other officers working with him also indicated that they had caught the virus.