FED Concerns on COVID-19

The Foundation for Education and Development (FED) would like to express its concern regarding the COVID-19 coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global pandemic. The virus outbreak has, at the moment of writing, 334,981 confirmed cases, 14,652 confirmed deaths, and has spread to 190 countries. This situation has caused panic among migrant workers in Thailand and others worldwide. 

Thailand has an increasing number of COVID-19 cases each day, which is affecting the country’s economy and management of migrant workers. Country wide One-Stop-Services are temporarily closed and the migrant workers’s passport/visa extension process has been postponed until 30 June. Tens of thousands of migrant workers are returning home because of the fear of COVID-19. 

The WHO and Thailand’s Ministry of Health and Prime Minister have asked people to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and apply social distancing to protect themselves and others. A state of emergency will begin on 26 March. There are no details as to the restrictions to be put in place. FED has raised the concern for the people in our environment to be safe and receive and share information on COVID-19 from trusted sources.

Please be noticed of the closure of FED offices and services below:

1. FED’s two learning centers were closed on 19 March 2020 and we will make an announcement again when the situation changes.
2. All staff will be working remotely from their homes from 25 March – 30 April 2020 as much as possible, but emergency staff will be on standby. 
3. Planned activities with gatherings of large numbers of people such as meetings, trainings, workshops, public forums, campaigns, conferences, camps and our internship program will be postponed until further notice.
4. FED will be mostly working on COVID-19 advocacy, prevention, raising awareness through social media channels and responding to emergency health and legal aid cases by collaborating with the local authorities. 
5. FED will spend resources to produce useful prevention materials (masks, water buckets, soaps, and more) to contribute to the institutions and communities that are at greater risk. 

Contact Information:

Htoo Chit – Executive Director – (+66) 081 797 7745 htoochit01@ghre.org 

Min Oo – Migrants Development Program Coordinator – (+66) 089 470 4934 minoo@ghre.org 

Saw Mudoh – Education Program Coordinator – (+66+) 098-681-2771 sawmudoh@ghre.org 

Bob Forrester – Health Program Coordinator – (+66) 063-586-1561 bob@ghre.org