British inmate 'showed no sign' of coronavirus before extradition

British drug suspect Mark Rumble is arrested in Pattaya on Nov 2, 2019 before being extradited to the United Kingdom on Jan 27. (Crime Suppression Division photo)

A British prison showed no sign of fever before he was transferred from Thailand to the United Kingdom, a senior Corrections Department officials said on Wednesday.

Corrections Department director-general Naras Savestanan said a medical check prior to the extradition of Mark Rumble, 31, to the UK on Jan 27 did not reveal any illness. His body temperature was 36.6C and the lung x-ray was normal, the official said.

Rumble was arrested in Pattaya on Nov 2 and imprisoned at Bangkok Remand Prison before being extradited to Britain on drug charges.

He collapsed in a UK jail on Monday of suspected coronavirus, now officially known as Covid-19, according to several British media outlets.

The medical report from Rumble's examination was sent to the UK before his departure, according to the Disease Control Department (DCD).

Sophon Iamsirithavorn of the DCD also denied the prisoner could have been infected with the virus in the Thai jail, saying he would not have been allowed to board a flight to the UK if he had developed a fever.