Bid of traveller to board flight with fake Covid certificate foiled in Coimbatore

According to sources, the passenger, a resident of Podanur, underwent a test on Wednesday and tested positive.
Bid of traveller to board flight with fake Covid certificate foiled in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: Timely intervention by officials at the  Coimbatore International Airport (CIA) saved over 500 passengers from getting exposed to Covid-19 infection on Thursday. A team of officials foiled the bid of a 41-year-old Chennai-bound traveller from boarding the flight using a forged Covid negative certificate. 

According to sources, the passenger, a resident of Podanur, underwent a test on Wednesday and tested positive. As he was scheduled to travel to Nigeria via Doha from Chennai for work, he  manipulated the report in order not to miss the schedule. 

His plan, however, was foiled thanks to an alert by ESI Hospital dean M Raveendran. The dean said he received a query about a missing QR code in the RT-PCR test report issued by the hospital.

"RT-PCR test report issued by ESI Hospital has the QR code. The absence of the code made us suspicious. We were able to confirm that it was a fake certificate after checking the ICMR ID mentioned on it," Raveendran said. 

He alerted Collector G S Sameeran and Deputy Director of Health Services P Aruna. Meanwhile, ESI Hospital officials reached the airport knowing that the traveller was ready to board the Chennai flight. Based on the information, Airport Director S Senthil Valavan formed a team and detained the passenger. He was taken to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) in an ambulance.

Meanwhile, health department officials have started an inquiry as to how the passenger got the fake RT-PCR test report.

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