On 14 July 2020 at 14.30 hrs. Mr. Dusit Manapan, Director-General of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs, summoned H.E. Mrs. Laila Ahmed Bahaaeldin, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Thailand, to discuss the incident of Egyptian military crew members who did not strictly observe Thailand’s measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.
    
      At the outset, the Director-General informed the Ambassador of the decision of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to deny flight clearance requests for the upcoming four Egyptian military flights on 17 and 25 July 2020 as the Thai public has expressed grave concern about this incident. He added that at this time the Thai side has not yet decided when such requests from the Embassy of Egypt can be considered again in the future. He also asked the Embassy to ensure that all Egyptian officials on missions in Thailand strictly comply with regulations and measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 set forth by the Royal Thai Government to avoid any recurrence of complications. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted the Egyptian side’s apology for the incident via telephone call on 13 July 2020. However, he suggested that it would be more appropriate if the Embassy would express the said gesture and reassurance directly to the Thai public.
  
      The Egyptian Ambassador sincerely apologised for the incident and reaffirmed the Egyptian side’s commitment to ensuring that such incident will not be repeated. She added that there had been frequent routine military flights of this kind in the past, during which there was not any incident. Furthermore, all crew members on the said flight had tested negative for COVID-19 before embarkation though one of the crew members later tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, crew members, including the one that tested positive, were found to not have adhered to the Thai regulations although the Embassy of Egypt had previously reassured the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant Thai authorities that the crew members would comply with the Thai measures. The Egyptian Ambassador informed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt has been following this case with serious concern. She then transmitted a statement expressing regrets for the incident to the Director-General. The statement has also been posted on the Embassy’s Facebook page. Lastly, the Ambassador informed that the Embassy of Egypt has coordinated with the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand to offer its full cooperation in the disease investigation, particularly contact tracing.