More than 400 migrant workers returned to Kachin State from Thailand since June 10, according to the Kachin State COVID-19 Control and Emergency Response Committee.

The government counted 425 workers from Kachin State who crossed the second Myawaddy Friendship Bridge from the Thai city of Mae Sot.

Tin Hlaing, deputy head of the Kachin State Coronavirus Committee, told KNG the returnees did a seven-day quarantine in Myawaddy, where they had nasal and throat swabs were taken to be sent for testing. “In Myitkyina, they have to do another 21 days at a facility quarantine centre,” he explained.

There are more than 9,000 returnees staying at 480 isolation centres in Kachin State. Most of the locations are in schools that need to be vacated before June 13, when classes resume after the lockdown ends.

Over 7,000 returned to Kachin State from China through the Kambeiti and Loije border gates; 244 from Shan State; 56 returned from Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) Region; 6 from Malaysia and 13 from Bangladesh.

Kachin State’s first COVID-19 patient, Case 144, was discharged from Myitkyina Public Hospital on May 11. A second infection was confirmed on June 11.

Case 249 is being treated at Bhamo Public Hospital. Eight people who had contact with the recent case were placed in quarantine, including a high school teacher who was in the middle of marking exams at Myitkyina University.

The state government recently announced that it would not make a laboratory for testing COVID-19. Some say Kachin State needs a lab to test for the virus because it borders China, where the novel coronavirus was discovered late last year and there are many returnees from China, and other countries.

The Ministry of Health and Sports reported that on Saturday there were 261 confirmed cases, while there were 6 deaths and 165 recoveries. A total of 45,926 specimens were tested.