Hundreds of worried locals queued for Covid-19 tests today (July 16) in Rayong, eastern Thailand, after an Egyptian solider tested positive there.<br /><br />The military crew member, who has not been named, was part of a 31-man crew making a short visit to the region. They arrived on July 8, made a day-trip to China the next day and left Thailand on July 11.<br /><br />However, on July 12 test results showed that one of the crew had the coronavirus and had visited shopping malls in the area.<br /><br />Thai military leader Prayut Chan-o-cha apologised for the blunder - which threatened to scupper the country's Covid 'clean sheet' of no local transmissions for more than 50 days. <br /><br />The prime minister said the incident should not have happened. "It shows no respect of the rules and a lack of discipline," he said.<br /><br />Thailand has eased its lockdown but international tourist arrivals remain banned and commercial airlines have no scheduled passenger flights into the country.
