Hungarian envoy caught Covid during infected foreign minister’s Bangkok visit
Health authorities say the Hungarian diplomat who was among four new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday probably caught the disease when he greeted Hungary’s visiting foreign minister in Bangkok last week.
Dr Sopon Iamsirithaworn, director of the Division of Communicable Diseases, said on Tuesday that the 53-year-old unnamed Hungarian diplomat had tested positive after meeting Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto last Tuesday (November 3).
After arriving in Bangkok from Cambodia, Szijjarto spent 30 minutes talking and eating with the diplomat and other embassy staff, before testing positive on November 4 and leaving the country.
On November 5-8, the diplomat self-quarantined at home. He tested positive on November 9 and was transferred for treatment at Bamrasnaradura Infectious Diseases Institute.
Sixteen high-risk contacts who were exposed to the Hungarian minister have all since tested negative for Covid-19. Tests on the diplomat's close contacts have also come back negative.
In Cambodia, four people linked with Szijjarto’s visit have tested positive. They are the Hungarian ambassador, a Cambodian bodyguard, a lawmaker from Cambodian PM Hun Sen’s ruling party and a senior Agriculture Ministry official.
