Thai police were this morning (September 7) checking cargo boats arriving from Myanmar following a spike in Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring country.

Officials said that more than 100 vessels a day arrive from Myanmar, or Burma, at the port in Ranong province in the south of Thailand.

Myanmar recorded a sudden spike in the coronavirus towards the end of August and now has more than 1,419 confirmed cases.

Police in Ranong province, where the Andaman Sea is a busy crossing for Burmese ships from Myanmar, are now enforcing extra rules to prevent the virus spreading into Thailand, which has recorded just one local transmission in more than 100 days.

Crew from Burmese ships have been banned from disembarking and the vessels must be monitored by police and Thai officials.

Nutt Charakul, Head of the Ranong Port Security Center, said that the number of ships from Myanmar docking in Thailand would be limited and they would be monitored more closely.