More than 1,000 Burmese workers in China have contacted the Myanmar embassy for help returning home, an official at the Myanmar embassy in Beijing told Myanmar Now.
Factory closures in response to the coronavirus outbreak have left large numbers of Myanmar migrants out of work, with some sleeping rough besides highways and in bushes, according to one charity.
The Moe Ma Kha Foundation, which is helping the stranded Myanmar migrants, has urged the embassy to prioritise over 200 factory workers who are sleeping rough in forests in Shandong and Guangdong provinces.
They include pregnant women and children, and the workers there are running low on food because they have so little money, the foundation said.
But the embassy said no one would be prioritised, and that the order of returns would be based on addresses and other credentials.
The embassy gave China a list of Myanmar workers who want to return on February 10. By Wednesday the number who had asked to come home had reached 1,100.
The embassy has asked Chinese authorities to help repatriate 600 of those who have sought assistance, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They said they would take this case to the higher level [officials]” he said.
