Migrant worker exodus from Thailand over virus lockdown

Passengers waiting to board buses with their belongings as thousands of migrant workers try to leave Bangkok for their home provinces amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus at Mo Chit Bus Terminal in Bangkok on Tuesday (March 23). - AFP

MYAWADDY (Myanmar): Tens of thousands of migrant labourers from Laos and Myanmar flooded bus stations and border crossings in Thailand on Monday, defying requests to stay put to prevent exporting infections of the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak.

Laos and Myanmar -- two of South-East Asia's least developed countries -- both claim they have no cases of COVID-19, which has killed more than 15,000 people globally.