The public health department in the Chin State town of Rihkhawdar established a medical checkpoint at a bridge marking the border between India and Burma on Monday in response to the spread of coronavirus through the region.
The checkpoint is located at the Rih-Zokhawthar bridge gate, at the No. 2 border trade zone/
“A team of officials from the government and three medics from the public health department have worked on it. The medical team does a medical check of those passing through. There are no restrictions. People are traveling as usual,” Rihkhawdar immigration officer Maung Maung told Khonumthung News.
More than 5,500 people have been affected by the coronavirus, largely in China, and more than 130 people have died—all of whom were in China. The virus has been identified in more than 12 countries.
“We have created [a place for]medical checks around the border bridge. We held public talks with travelers to the border gate. We explained to people around here about the symptoms of this disease… We will continue to check it,” nurse Tin Tin Hla, who is working with Rihkhawdar town’s public health department, told Khonumthung News.
The Chinese government first reported an unidentified pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan town on December 30, 2019. Chinese authorities announced it as nobel coronavirus 2019—2019 nCoV—on January 7.
More than 60 students from Burma have been trapped in Wuhan town in China, which is now under quarantine. Among them, are five ethnic Chin students and two of their family members.