EU official tested negative for Covid-19; Foreign Ministry to review rules for diplomats
The EU diplomat who had gone abroad and returned to Thailand on Thursday afternoon had tested negative for Covid-19, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Cherdkiat Atthakor said on Friday (July 17).
A controversy was stirred on Thursday after the juristic person of the condo where she stayed refused to let her in, as she had not been quarantined.
Laying out the timeline of events, the spokesman said that the diplomat had returned from Frankfurt, Germany, on Thursday at 2 pm and was given the RT-PCR virus test at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The diplomat waited at the airport until the result was revealed to be negative. After the result was known, she travelled in her personal car to the condominium, which was designated to be a 14-day quarantine area.
Cherdkiat added that there was a partition between the car driver and passenger to prevent any chance of transmission.
However, the juristic person of the condominium refused to allow her as she had not been quarantined. The Thai Foreign Ministry was contacted and the diplomat was transferred to an alternative state quarantine hotel on Thursday night.
He emphasised that ambassadors or diplomats were not VIPs, but they had some immunity according to the Vienna Convention.
However, the diplomats still have to follow the rules in each country.
The ministry said it would review on Friday afternoon the rules to accommodate ambassadors and diplomats under the strict virus preventive measures, to ensure the health security of Thai people.
Dr Virachai Techavijit, consul-general of the Republic of Estonia in Bangkok, denied that the diplomat was Estonian, as widely reported in the media. He said that she was a diplomat of the European Union.
