A Covid-positive Indonesian man faces arrest after he disguised himself and impersonated his wife in order to board a flight, according to CNN.
The man, who has been identified only by his initials “DW,” boarded a domestic Citilink flight last week from Jakarta, Indonesia to Ternate pretending to be his wife.
He wore her women’s Islamic attire, which included a niqab (face veil) and used her identification card and negative PCR test to purchase a ticket and board the plane.
However, the man’s ruse was discovered when a flight attendant saw him go into an airplane bathroom dressed as a woman and come out wearing men’s clothes.
The flight crew notified airport authorities in Ternate that the man had impersonated his wife, and he was promptly detained upon the plane’s landing. He was found in possession of his wife’s ID, PCR test, and vaccine card.
A health officer at the airport immediately tested the man for COVID-19, which came back positive. He was transported via ambulance to his home and ordered to quarantine under the supervision of the Ternate City COVID-19 Handling Task Force.
According to Task Force Operational Head Muhammad Arif Gani, “Once his self-isolation period is complete, local police have stated they intend to prosecute ‘DW.’” Police have since launched a full investigation and charges are pending.
Indonesia is currently Asia’s COVID hotspot, with many of the new cases being of the Delta variant.
As of July 21, Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, has seen nearly three million recorded cases of COVID-19 and 74,920 deaths. With roughly 6% of the country’s population being fully vaccinated, vaccine rollout has been slow.
A health survey published in early July revealed that almost half of the people tested in Jakarta were confirmed to have COVID antibodies. This indicates that the outbreak in the capital may have been much worse than it was previously believed to be.