COVID case in Blinken press curtails his Southeast Asia tour

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — A positive COVID-19 test among U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s traveling party has cut short the top diplomat’s first official tour of Southeast Asia. A member of the press corps accompanying Blinken on what was to have been a three-nation visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur. That forced Blinken to abandon the program at his next and last stop in Bangkok, and return to the United States. Instead of spending Wednesday night in Bangkok, the State Department said Blinken would fly to the Thai capital for a very brief logistical layover before traveling to Guam to refuel and then continuing on to Hawaii.