Thais seek to fix errors that allowed infected foreigners in

RAYONG, Thailand (AP) — Authorities in Thailand urged almost 1,900 people to quarantine themselves and get tested for the coronavirus after a breakdown in screening allowed two foreigners with the disease to pose a risk to public health.

The agency coordinating Thailand’s coronavirus response also announced Tuesday it is rolling back regulations for admitting foreign visitors in order to tighten up procedures.

The incidents involving newly arrived foreigners emerged after seven weeks during which Thailand’s only new confirmed cases of the coronavirus were from Thais repatriated from abroad, with no cases of local transmission reported. The government has been eager to begin the process of reopening the country to foreign visitors, especially tourists who are vital contributors to the economy.

Anger was palpable in the eastern province of Rayong, where a member of a visiting 31-member Egyptian military team who tested positive for the disease apparently skirted regulations to go shopping with his colleagues.

The second case involved the infected 9-year-old daughter of a foreign diplomat whose family returned from Sudan and stayed in their condominium in Bangkok.

Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, said a contact tracing app indicated that 1,882 people may have crossed paths with the infected Egyptian and urged them to self-isolate for 14 days and get tested as soon as possible. Seven people known to have had direct contact with the man have already been quarantined.

Officials in Rayong closed several schools and a mall and sealed off part of the hotel where the Egyptians stayed.

Long lines of people formed outside one of the two malls the Egyptians visited, where health authorities were...