A total 19 out of 23 Myanmar migrants tested positive for Covid-19 after leaving Thaoiland and then retirned to Myanmar this month, had been released from state quarantine in Thailand earlier, following their quarantine period.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong Chingduang, chief of the immigration bureau, yesterday said the 19 had recovered and were allowed to leave state quarantine.
He made comment after hearing about news report in Myanmar media saying the 23 tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from Thailand to Myanmar in June.
"These labourers from Myanmar tested positive for Covid-19 and were hospitalised until they were cleared," Pol Lt Gen Sompong said. "Some of them came from Malaysia, while others worked in Songkhla province."
He noted they were placed at a state-quarantine facility in Songkhla's Sadao district.
Pol Lt Gen Sompong said he will order the Immigration Bureau to update him regarding the four other workers from Myanmar.
Aside from Covid-19 fears, Pol Lt Gen Sompong said the Immigration Bureau has arrested 12,223 undocumented migrants who snuck through the border since March.
He said they were migrant labourers who confessed they committed the act because the Thai border has been closed during the lockdown. They reportedly worked as housemaids while others came to look for jobs.
In other news, the Immigration Bureau yesterday said it arrested a member of a gang that smuggled undocumented workers from Myanmar into the kingdom.
He was identified by Pol Lt Gen Sompong as Surat, or Moo, a public van driver in Surat Thani province.
The arrest came after Immigration Police arrested a person suspected of smuggling nine migrant workers from Myanmar and another public van driver in the same province on March 2.
He was identified as Viroj, or Boy, who reportedly confessed he worked for a gang that produces fake passports and smuggles migrant labourers.