More than 2,000 Cambodian migrants have reportedly returned back to their home country at Chong Chom border crossing in Surin due to the closure of worker camps.
Many migrant workers have chosen to go back home after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered the closure of worker camp sites across Bangkok as a measure to curb Covid-19 transmission in the capital and its surrounding provinces, as well as four southern provinces, on June 28.
Restriction of inter-provincial travel was also imposed last Saturday in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon.
The stricter measures on workers have led to the daily retreat of about 100-150 migrant workers, who live outside the travel-restricted zones, back to their home country.
Since the suspension of camp sites, more than 2,000 Cambodian migrants have reportedly crossed the border at Chong Chom border checkpoint. Among them, 239 migrant workers were found to be infected with Covid-19 by Oddar Meanchey Provincial Health Department of Cambodia on Sunday.
Due to the risk of the spread of the virus, Surin Immigration Office has intensified preventive measures against Covid-19 by providing a specific zone where Cambodian migrant workers are screened for the virus and their belongings disinfected.
The office asked all employers to bring their migrant workers to the designated zone in order to keep them separate from other visitors. The workers will not be allowed to exit the zone.
They will then be escorted to trucks and buses to take them across the border.
In separate news, 189 infected workers were reported in a new Covid-19 cluster at a worker camp site in Phanom Sarakham district of Chachoengsao.
District chief Pinthira Kengkanpanit said the camp site was set up as a field hospital to treat 184 migrant workers, while five Thai nationals there were admitted to hospitals.
The camp site was located in Moo 9 of tambon Koh Khanun and housed workers at a recycling company. About 500 migrants reportedly stayed around the area, so mass testing would be expedited to examine 300 others, she said.
On Wednesday, 339 new cases were recorded in Chachoengsao, bringing the total to 4,412.