Govt asks employers to watch foreign workers for Covid-19 symptoms

Authorities have been proactive in conducting tests but the best precaution is for employers to devise measures at factories and report to authorities if they find suspected Covid-19 cases, Dr Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman of the government's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration, said on Sunday (April 26).
He was responding to concerns of the virus spreading among foreign workers expressed by a resident in Samut Sakhon province, home to a large number of migrant workers.
Taweesin referred to the finding of an active case by health authorities, which led to the discovery that 42 immigrants at the detention centre were infected with the novel coronavirus.
Thailand saw a sudden spurt in Covid-19 patients with 53 new cases on Saturday, according to Taweesin who holds a daily briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the country.
Of the 53 new cases, 42 are illegal immigrants at the Songkhla Immigrant Detention Centre at the Sadao checkpoint bordering Malaysia in Songkhla province, seven in Yala, two in Bangkok, one in Chonburi and one in Phuket.
Of the 42 illegal immigrants, 34 are from Myanmar, three are Vietnamese, two are Malaysian and one each from Yemen, Cambodia and India. Most of the illegal immigrants at the Songkhla detention centre are Rohingya. Thai authorities have assured local people that these immigrants are not allowed to go outside the detention centre so they will not spread the virus to local people.
Taweesin said Thailand will learn lessons from Singapore in zooming in on migrant workers who have contracted Covid-19.
According to Thai authorities, there are about 10 detention centres around border provinces as well as in Bangkok. Immigration officials have to reorganise management of detentions in order to prevent those who lived in crowded facilities from contacting with virus, Taweesin said.