SURAT THANI: An Israeli tourist has been taken to Bangkok from Koh Samui after a third test on Thursday cleared him of the coronavirus disease.
Police sent Ohad Baruch from Koh Samui Hospital to Thong Lor police station in Bangkok on Thursday afternoon. There, he will be formally charged after he left a hotel before his Covid-19 test result was known.
The 29-year-old traveller is wanted on an arrest warrant endorsed by the South Bangkok District Court for failing to abide by disease-control measures in violation of the emergency decree. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and/or fine of 40,000 baht.
He was discharged from the hospital in Koh Samui district soon after lab tests at the Regional Medical Sciences Centre came negative.
It was the third test he took in days after two previous RT-PCR tests on the resort island showed the same result.
After the two tests, the Medical Sciences Department ordered further testing at its branch in Muang district to make sure he was not infected.
Koh Samui Hospital director Nichapha Sawasdikanon said the hospital discharged him after the results of the three tests matched. Doctors said he had fully recovered and could not spread the disease, she added.
His first test conducted after his arrival in Bangkok on Friday showed he was infected with Covid-19.
"The first test in Bangkok was positive but it showed a low amount of the coronavirus," she said.
Dr Nichapha said four people in close contact with him on the island had been tested and the results were also negative.
