Thailand watches migrants buying fever medications

By Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo

JAKARTA (AA) - Thailand ordered pharmacies nationwide, particularly in provinces along the Myanmar border, to monitor migrant workers buying large quantities of pain reliever and fever medications as a part of its measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country, local media reported Monday.

Amid rising cases in neighboring Myanmar, Department of Disease Control (DDC) said pharmacies across the country have been asked to alert local health officials if they see foreign migrant workers with flu-like symptoms purchasing large quantities of fever medications, according to daily Bangkok Post.

Sopon Iamsirithaworn, the director of DDC’s Bureau of General Communicable Diseases, said the COVID-19 infections in Myanmar have continued to climb rapidly and its government has imposed stay-at-home orders in 11 states to curb virus transmission.

The report said due to the worsening situation, the authorities in Kanchanaburi province have closed the border checkpoint at the Three Pagodas Pass, its mainland link to Myanmar, until Oct. 5.

Last month, there were fewer than 400 cases and six deaths from the virus in Myanmar, but the number has more than doubled in the past few weeks, as a total of 10,734 COVID-19 cases reported as of Monday morning with 226 deaths.

Meanwhile, Thailand reported 22 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, raising the total to 3,545, while death toll remains unchanged at 59, according to the country’s health authority.