Thailand has tightened security at the main border trade gateway with Myanmar in Tak's Mae Sot district after three Myanmar nationals tested positive for the coronavirus at the Thai border.
Tak's deputy governor, Suppimitr Paorik, has ordered vehicles from Myanmar to only load and unload goods at designated areas in the district until further notice.
Vehicles from Myanmar are not allowed to enter the town and must leave Thai soil within seven hours, according to the announcement signed on Saturday and released yesterday.
Thailand has also banned the entry of Myanmar nationals in Tak and other border areas, after a spate of new Covid-19 infections in the neighbouring country.
In Mae Sot, the only vehicles now permitted to enter are those transporting goods via the second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, and they must unload in the immediate area. Prior to the new restrictions which took effect yesterday, trucks were allowed to drive to warehouses in the district.
The new Covid-19 restrictions come after three Myanmar lorry drivers were found to be infected with the virus.
The first two cases were found on Friday during active testing of lorry drivers from Myanmar at the border by health officials and local officials, said Sophon Iamsirithavorn, chief of the Communicable Disease Division under the Department of Disease Control (DDC).
The third case was found on Saturday after a disease investigation team conducted further testing of 74 workers at two local warehouses where the two Myanmar drivers unloaded goods. The third patient also works as a lorry driver, Dr Sophon said.
He said that all three were immediately sent back to Myawaddy and that the Public Health Ministry is stepping up contact tracing and active testing of people who had come into contact with the infected drivers.
Opas Karnkawinpong, acting director- general of the DDC, said warehouse operators have been asked to close their premises for seven days in line with disease control measures.
A local source in Mae Sot said that authorities have asked workers at the two warehouses to self-quarantine at their homes for 14 days. Two schools where the workers' children go have also been closed to be disinfected, the source added.
Security authorities in Tak are on high alert to prevent illegal crossings from Myanmar amid concerns about possible contagion.
Myanmar's Health Ministry reported 2,158 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday -- a record daily rise to date -- along with 32 additional deaths, according to Reuters. A total of 26,064 cases and 598 deaths have been recorded in Myanmar.
Lt Gen Apichet Suesat, commander of the 3rd Army Region, said he has instructed all army units along the Thai-Myanmar border to prevent migrant workers from illegally entering the country to curb any potential spread of Covid-19.
In addition to the three drivers from Myanmar, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) yesterday reported two new cases in the country, taking the total to 3,636.
One patient was a Thai soldier, 36, who returned from South Sudan with 180 other soldiers on Sept 22.
Thirty-one soldiers on the same flight had earlier tested positive for the coronavirus.
The other new case was a Japanese woman, 36, who arrived on Sept 24.