Travel firms and tourist sites are asked to ensure safety for visitors, and strictly follow the Ministry of Health’s 5K message of khau trang (facemask), khu khuan (disinfection), khoang cach (distance), khong tu tap (no gathering) and khai bao y te (health declaration). Quang Ninh has put in place suitable measures to control those who come from pandemic-hit areas. It encourages all people coming to the locality to fill in health declarations. The province creates favourable conditions for migrant workers to return the locality to work in the tourism and service sectors; however, they must follow the provincial Party Committee’s regulations on health declaration, quarantine, and testing, among others. Ha Long, Uong Bi, Dong Trieu, Cam Pha and Quang Yen should apply necessary measures to ensure efficiency in COVID-19 prevention in the “new situation”. As Van Don International Airport will resume operation on March 3, Quang Ninh province is outlining its new COVID-19 prevention process to ensure safety for the airport, its staff and the community. About the reopening of bars and karaoke parlours, the local police are assigned to study and recommend the local People’s Committee on the time for the service resumption. Source: VNA …
Migrant workers working conditions
Thailand: COVID-19-epicentre shrimp market reopens
Samut Sakhon 's Central Shrimp Market, the epicentre of the second wave of COVID-19 in Thailand, reopens on March 1, after being closed 10 weeks ago. (Source: Bangkokpost) Bangkok (VNA) – The Central Shrimp Market in Thailand’s coastal province of Samut Sakhon – the epicentre of the country’s second COVID-19 wave – reopened on March 1 after being closed since December 19. The market was crowded with traders, buyers and migrant workers who must all strictly follow measures imposed to prevent the spread of the virus. Trucks delivering seafood to the market, and the vehicles of sellers and buyers, must all go through screening points. The temperatures of all occupants are checked and they must show proof they have been tested for COVID-19 . All migrant workers at all fish and shrimp piers must wear face masks and protective gear such as gloves, rubber boots and rubber aprons, in line with the standards set by the Public Health Ministry. Traders and owners of fish and shrimp stalls all expressed their delight when the market had finally reopened after being closed for over 10 weeks. The province's accumulated COVID-19 cases during the third wave rose to 16,377, of whom seven have died. On the same day, Thailand logged in 80 new COVID-19 infections, putting the national tally at 26,031, including 83 deaths. Thailand kicked off its COVID-19 inoculation campaign a day prior, with cabinet ministers, health officials and medical professionals among the first in the queue to receive vaccinations. The first doses of vaccine, developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech, were given to Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is also the health minister, among others at an infectious diseases institute on the outskirts of Bangkok. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, 66, also attended the event, although his age falls outside the range of 18 to 59 suitable to receive Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine, so he did not get it. Thailand received its first …
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Thirteen die in collision of truck, crowded SUV near U.S.-Mexico border
At least 13 people, 10 of them Mexican nationals, were killed on Tuesday when a tractor-trailer slammed into a Ford Expedition crammed with 25 adults and children in the dusty farming community of Holtville near the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said. Handmade wooden crosses stretched in a line across a patch of dry grass and dirt next to the highway, and a seat covered in what appeared to be blood lay near the SUV, as the desolate highway remained closed Tuesday afternoon. The white tractor trailer cab with yellow trim was still smashed into the wrecked side of the maroon SUV. The entire driver’s side of the smaller vehicle was caved in, and the passenger side was flung wide open. “Unfortunately, consular staff have confirmed the death of 10 Mexicans so far,” Roberto Velasco, the foreign ministry’s director for North America, said in a tweet in Spanish. Mexicans were also among the injured in the crash, he said. It was not immediately clear how fast the vehicles were going, or whether the SUV had observed a stop sign before heading into the intersection of State Route 115 and Norrish Road just outside of Holtville, about 10 miles (16.1 km) north of the border, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said. Those killed, who included the driver of the SUV, ranged in age from 15 to 53, and minors as young as 16 were injured, said Omar Watson, chief of the highway patrol’s border division. He said the driver was 22 years old. Several of the occupants were ejected from the vehicle and died on the pavement; others died inside the SUV, Watson said. Most of the survivors are Spanish-speaking, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said. Despite the presence of CBP agents and Spanish translators, Watson said it was too early to know whether the SUV’s occupants were migrant workers or others who might have crossed from Mexico in the overcrowded vehicle. Although it varies by trim and model year, the Ford Expedition typically is designed to hold five …
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