A man who had COVID-19 was arrested after disguising himself as his wife so that he could board an Indonesian flight traveling from Jakarta to Ternate.
“He bought the plane ticket with his wife’s name and brought the identity card, the PCR test result, and the vaccination card with his wife’s name. All documents are under his wife’s name,” Ternate police chief Aditya Laksimada said of the man, who was only identified by his initials and—per the Associated Press—was arrested once the plane landed.
Per the report, the man—whose COVID-19 test indeed came back positive upon his arrest—boarded a Citilink plane on Sunday while wearing a niqab veil that covered his face. Ultimately, a flight attendant is said to have spotted the man changing his outfit once on the plane, resulting in him being caught.
Indonesia has seen tens of thousands of newly confirmed cases of the virus, as well as nearly 1400 deaths, in the last 24 hours alone. Indonesia has seen 2.9 million reported cases total with 77,583 fatalities. In response, restrictions on nonessential travel have been tightened, including the requirement of a negative COVID-19 test.
Meanwhile, here in the States, the problem of vaccine refusal continues to fuel concerns surrounding the Delta variant.
“There is a clear message that is coming through: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said during a briefing earlier this month.
Speaking with CNN this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci—chief medical advisor to President Biden—responded to news that Canada surpassed the U.S. in terms of overall vaccination rate. As Fauci explained, Canada is “doing better” than the U.S. because citizens there don’t have to contend with the same “divisiveness” that permeates efforts here.
As of Thursday morning, less than half of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated.
