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Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra tested positive for coronavirus and was treated in hospital last month but has since recovered, a source close to the exiled billionaire told AFP.
The 71-year-old lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and spent 15 days in hospital before being discharged in mid-September, they said.
“It is true that he was infected several weeks ago, but now he has recovered. He joked that it was fashionable,” a source from Pheu Thai, a political party linked to Thaksin, told AFP, who asked not to be named.
It is believed that he contracted the virus after visiting a food court.
Thaksin was ousted from power in a 2006 military coup and fled the country in 2008.
He was convicted in Thailand on corruption charges.
His sister Yingluck became prime minister in 2011 before being ousted in another coup three years later.
The revelations about Thaksin’s brush with the coronavirus coincided with explosive news that US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania tested positive.
Trump received experimental treatment at the hospital and was removed from the election campaign just a month before Election Day.
bpm / jah
