Thai soldiers patrol the border with Myanmar today (September 8) to stop illegal migrants after the neighbouring country suffered a dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases.

Officers carried machine guns while patrolled the Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai province in the north of the country.

Fields and shallow rivers in the area arre popular crossing points used by Burmese migrants attempting to enter and work illegally in Thailand, where wages are higher than their impoverished homeland.

Officials fear that illegal Burmese immigrants could cause an outbreak of the coronavirus in Thailand, which has seen just one local transmission of the virus in more than 100 days, having kept its borders closed since March 22.

Colonel Chatree Sanguantham said that soldiers had arrested dozens of Burmese people after they waded across the rivers to enter Thailand.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has seen a huge spike in Covid-19 cases with 100 on August 25. They have recorded 1,610 in total.