Stranded Burmese people at Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai -Tachileik border crossing have finally been allowed to enter Myanmar. Border authorities seal off the border in an effort to stop the transmission of Covid-19 coronavirus .
The stranded Burmese people have been held in quarantine for a period of time at Phra That Doi Wao temple in Mae Sai. Myanmar authorities allowed them to cross the border from Thailand. Twenty three vehicles were used to transport workers from the temple to the second Thailand-Myanmar Friendship bridge connecting Mae Sai with Myanmar’s Tachileik province.
Air Quality Quality Also Plaguing Chiang Rai
Almost 200 Burmese people received a medical screening while crossing the border. None of them showed any obvious symptoms of COVID-19. They are now in a quarantine facility in Myanmar located approximately two kilometers from the border. The Burmese people will be help there in quarantine for another 14 days.
Myanmar authorities have announced they will not allow any person to cross the border until 15th April. There are still a number of Myanmar nationals left in Chiang Rai, which is expected to be the final group. Chiang Rai’s communicable diseases committee has already banned transportation of migrant workers into the province.
Meanwhile, The air quality in Mae Sai and throughout Chiang Rai is still at very hazardous levels due to forest fires. Firefighters have been battling hotshots around the clock throughout the Chiang Rai province. Since March 30 this year, 72 people have been arrested for starting fires in northern Thailand. There have now been 454 cases altogether.
the Governor of Chiang Rai, Prajon Prachsakul, said officials arrested three more suspects for causing forest fires between April 5 and 7th. According to the Pollution Control Department, levels of PM2.5 in the air quality measured between 34 and 179 micrograms per cubic meter in Chiang Rai this morning.
The air quality indicator was red, which indicates very unhealthy conditions, in Mae Sai district.