Myo Thiri Kyaw — Migrant workers returning from abroad to some villages in Mrauk-U Township are being forced to stay outside their villages for 14 days as a coronavirus quarantine measure, locals said.

Kwasone village administrator U Oo Kyaw Win said that 14 people who returned to the village from China on March 27 are under a 14-day quarantine in accordance with instructions from the Department of Health.

“We’ve learned that this coronavirus can spread to a lot of people. That’s why we have made people who came back from China stay outside the village, whether they are positive or negative. We are scared of that virus being transmitted,” he said.

The Ministry of Health and Sports has said that people under quarantine should receive medical checkups two times a day. If they are feeling sick, have a cough or difficulty breathing, or suffer from exhaustion, they are required to contact the authorities at once to receive medical treatment.

“The people being quarantined are healthy,” U Oo Kyaw Win said of those waiting outside Kwasone village. “They don’t need to get medical treatment.”

Over the years many people in Arakan State have migrated to other parts of the country or abroad due to a lack of job opportunities in their villages. A large number of migrant workers have recently returned home for the Thingyan holiday, as is typical for Myanmar’s biggest annual celebration.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sought to tamp down the mass movement of people that characterises the month of April, with a particular eye toward the country’s eastern border with Thailand, which hosts more than 3 million Myanmar migrant workers.

The ministry said “people who returned in groups from Thailand and people living in the country are at high risk of infection and a possible epidemic is highly imminent.”

It added, “Hence, those who entered Myanmar through border gates would no longer be allowed to go to their homes directly and they would have to undergo a 14-day quarantine at the designated facilities arranged by the State without fail.”

Myanmar nationals contemplating cross-border travel from Thailand were asked to wait until after April 15 as the government works to expand quarantine facilities for those passing through the country’s border gates.

The Ministry of Health and Sports had confirmed 14 coronavirus cases as of March 30, and this week all international commercial flights to Myanmar were suspended until April 13.