"Myanmar Migrant Workers Risk Fines And Jail to Get Home Amid COVID-19 Exodus", 2 April 2020

Thai police arrested and later released 300 migrant workers as they headed to the border to return home to Myanmar...amid the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus, part of an exodus spanning across Southeast Asia as factories in Thailand that rely on foreign labor close down, a labor activist, an embassy official, a labor activist, and a lawmaker said.

The workers, traveling in a caravan of 16 buses, were trying to return to Myanmar after Thai authorities issued an order forbidding groups from traveling to prevent the spread of the virus, also known as COVID-19. They were released in the evening.

[...]

After Thai authorities released the 300 workers, they were allowed to continue their travel on to Myanmar, said Ye Min, a senior member of the Aid Alliance Committee.

Thai officials also said they would not release any other groups migrant workers traveling home if they are caught at the surveillance points, he said.

[...]

Thant Zin Aung, a Kayin state lawmaker who represents the Myawaddy township constituency, warned other Myanmar migrant laborers to remain where they are.

"These workers need to follow Thailand's order," he told RFA. "If they don't, they can be charged a 100,000-baht [U.S. $3,027] fine and receive one year prison, or both."

[...]