Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong revealed the news during a meeting of the Communicable Disease Committee held at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Sept 28).
V/Gov Pichet explained that a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has broken out in Rakhine state in the west of Myanmar, a situation that could lead to concerned people there attempting to flee overseas, therefore significantly increasing illegal immigrant numbers.
Given Thailand is an obvious option for this, the Thai government has already issued orders to officers to close checkpoints along 10 border provinces nationwide.
The Phuket government has set up four teams of officers to undertake the following tasks:
1. Monitor and examine worker camps and construction sites across the island
2. Patrol the island via boats and monitor any activity on the water
3. Examine workers from Myanmar entering via the Phuket Checkpoint
4. Examine community and residential areas.
Phuket Public Health Office (PPHO) Chief Dr Thanit Sermkaew also asked for cooperation from local residents to try and monitor any nearby worker camps where new comers may appear in order to prevent any possible threat of a second wave of the pandemic.