Earlier today, CCSA spokesman Dr. Taweesin Wissanuyothin took a break from his usual daily Covid-19 updates to clarify matters regarding the government’s mishandling of the two recent Covid-19 cases in Thailand; an Egyptian soldier and a 9 year old Sudanese girl who was travelling with her Diplomat family.
The spokesman also faced some tough questions and scrutiny from the Thai press during the conference.
Dr. Taweesin apologised to the Thai people on behalf of the government, expressing remorse for “letting down their guard”, something the government consistently reminds and asks of Thai people.
Granted, the CCSA spokesman should have been the one to apologize, but many netizens also expressed their frustrations at the government figures who often fail to publicly admit their judgement in errors.
Isn’t this something we should expect from an elected government?
The spokesman also apologized to the people of Rayong province, where the infected Egyptian soldier and his traveling party also visited department stores and walked around the town.
Rayong province will now close a number of schools for pre-caution, and a city-wide quarantine may also be in the works.
During the conference, he also admitted one key error on the government’s side regarding the Egyptian case, “we did not know that the airplane was landing at U-Tapao airport, hence, there were no proper planning involved”.
The CCSA vows to take immediate action, and have made proposals to amend the following points:
- All visiting diplomats will have to enter state quarantine for 14 days, with no special privilege waived
- Cancellation of flights from Egypt that were initially scheduled for 17-20 July & 25-29 July.
- Phase out special entry into Thailand, granted to VIPs, diplomats and short term business travel
This is likely subject to final approval from the cabinet.
Things happen, and often time it depends on your problem solving, adaptability skills in order to recover. The government will need to get this one right.
