NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A couple dumped an 80-year-old man they called "father" at a temple in Bua Lai district and drove off, and he was later confirmed to be infected with Covid-19.

A Facebook user said to be a medical worker posted pictures of an old man lying on a trail near Wat Pa Suan Thamma Sawaddee in Bua Lai district.

The abbot of the temple said that a woman and her husband brought the 80-year-old man to the temple on Sunday.

They said that the old man had known him when they lived in Khon Khaen province and wanted to stay with him at the temple.

Then the couple left the old man and his bag at the temple, and quickly drove away in  their car.

A local village head learned from the old man that his daughter had brought him from Lop Buri province and left him at the temple.

On Tuesday morning the old man wandered away from the temple and was later found lying in the rain on a nearby trail. Local health workers took him for a Covid-19 test, which was positive.

The man was taken to a hospital.

Monks at the temple, health workers and rescuers who were in close contact with the old man were placed in 14-day quarantine.