A Hungarian diplomat was infected with Covid-19 after sharing a car and having dinner with a Hungarian minister who tested positive on arrival in Bangkok.
The Disease Control Department presented a timeline of the Hungarian diplomat, 53, who got infected with the coronavirus disease.
On Nov 3, the diplomat went to pick up the minister and they were in the same car. He took the minister to the alternative state quarantine facility at Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel.
"On Nov 3, the diplomat was in the same car as the minister and they had dinner together with other delegates for 30 minutes that evening," department director-general Opas Karnkawinpong said.
Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel on Wednesday disputed Dr Opas's version of events.
The hotel said in a statement that the minister had dined alone in his room after he arrived at the hotel, as required by health department quarantine regulations.
On Nov 4, a lab test showed the minister was infected. On the same day, people who had been in contact with him were asked to be quarantined, including the diplomat. The minister left for Hungary by private plane.
On Nov 5-8, the diplomat took leave and self-isolated at home. On Nov 8, Cambodia found an official in the security team of the Hungarian minister got infected with Covid-19.
On Nov 9, the diplomat tested positive. He did not show symptoms. Seventeen people who had been in close contact with him tested negative.
Sophon Iamsirithavorn, the director of the Division of Communicable Diseases, said on Tuesday that the diplomat had been in Thailand for about two years so his case was treated as a local infection. Others who were in contact with him were under observation and none of them had shown symptoms. All, except the diplomat, tested negative on the first tests.
Dr Opas did not say the diplomat was infected by the minister. A separate press release issued by the Public Health Ministry on Tuesday was headlined that he was infected by the visiting minister.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration reported three new imported cases on Wednesday, bringing the tally of confirmed infections to 3,847.
A Thai woman's test on Monday was positive after she arrived from Turkey on Nov 4.
Another Thai woman who arrived from the United Kingdom the same day also tested positive on Monday
A British woman from the UK tested positive on arriving in Thailand on Sunday.
The death toll remains unchanged at 60.
