An air force attache and his family who contracted Covid-19 in India have arrived in Thailand and were admitted to hospital yesterday.
The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) arranged an Airbus A320 to bring the officer attached to the Thai embassy in New Delhi, along with his family back to Thailand, as they were severely ill and in need of urgent treatment, RTAF spokesman, AM Thanat Chan-ampai said.
The family was accompanied by officials from the Department of Disease Control.
The attache was admitted to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital, while his family were taken to the Royal Thai Air Force Hospital (Si Kan), the spokesman said.
Responding to claims the RTAF failed to bring home another embassy official, AM Thanat said air force only had permission to bring the infected attache and his family back home.
RTAF can't bring back other officials without permission from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, he said.
A source in the air force said the attache was brought home as he was severely ill, with the infection having progressed to his lungs, and was unable to seek treatment in India due to the worsening Covid situation there.
When the RTAF decided to send an aircraft to bring the attache home, the source said, the air force had told the embassy that any official who wanted to return to Thailand could take the flight as the patient and his family would be isolated from other passengers.
However, no one at the embassy wanted to return on the same flight out of fear of infection, the source said.
The source added that a commerce attache at the embassy wanted to return on the flight, but he did not receive permission.
The source also quoted a miltary attache at the Indian embassy in Bangkok as saying that a C-17 aircraft will today fly from India to Don Mueang airport to take medical supplies to India.