Thailand Summons Egypt's Ambassador Over Military Crews' Failure To Observe Quarantine Measures

By Linda Khoo Hui Li BANGKOK, July 15 (Bernama) -- Thailand has summoned the kingdom's Egyptian Ambassador, Laila Ahmed Bahaaeldin, over the failure of Egyptian military crew members to strictly observe the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In a statement, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its Director-General of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs Dusit Manapan met Laila Ahmed at the ministry Tuesday. At the outset, it said Dusit informed the ambassador of the decision of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to deny flight clearance requests for the upcoming four Egyptian military flights on July 17 and July 25 as the Thai public has expressed grave concern over an incident of an Egyptian military crew member who left the hotel where he was supposed to self-isolate and was later tested positive for COVID-19. “At this time the Thai side has not yet decided when such requests from the Embassy of Egypt can be considered again in the future. “He (Dusit) also asked the (Egypt) Embassy to ensure that all Egyptian officials on missions in Thailand strictly comply with regulations and measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 set forth by the government to avoid any recurrence of complications,” it said. It said the Egyptian ambassador sincerely apologised for the incident and reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that such an incident will not be repeated. “The ambassador informed that the Embassy of Egypt has coordinated with the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand to offer its full cooperation in the disease investigation, particularly contact tracing,” the statement said. On Monday, CCSA said a 45-year-old Egyptian military crew member was tested positive for COVID-19 when transiting on a routine military flight through the eastern province of Rayong’s U-Tapao Airport from 8 to 11 July. The Egyptian military flight with 31 crew members arrived at Rayong on July 8 and left for Chengdu, China on July 9 and returned on the same day. Local media reported the group left the hotel to go to two shopping malls on July 10, leading to hundreds of locals who were at the malls having to face home quarantine. The group left Thailand on Saturday before the COVID-19 test came back positive on Sunday. On Tuesday, Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan o-cha, who is also the head of CCSA, said the incident was ‘unnecessary’ and apologised to the public. -- BERNAMA