Some Travelers Are Presenting Forged Covid-19 Tests to Fly, 23 Arrested in Uganda

London Heathrow Terminal 5 viewed from the air

Some destinations require a negative coronavirus test in order to be admitted to the country or to avoid a mandatory self-quarantine period.

Some countries or regions will accept a printed hard copy of a negative Covid-19 test result, while others go further, requiring travelers to create a digital profile and upload a negative test result, which can then be verified by health officials prior to departure.

Meanwhile, the Lancaster Telegraph reported the use of fake Covid-19 test results by passengers traveling to destinations including Pakistan and published a copy of a forged test result.

“It is quite simple. Everyone knows someone who has had a Covid test,” a man in Blackburn, who forged such a certificate for a friend, told the paper.  “You can simply get their negative test and change the name and birthdate to your own. You also put a test date on which is within the time limit required.”

Elsewhere in the United Kingdom, some travel agents are reportedly offering holidaymakers fake test result documentation.

In Uganda, 23 people were arrested at Entebbe Airport last week for boarding a plane to that country with forged Covid-19 test documents.

The problem is not necessarily a new one. In June, Beijing’s embassy in Moscow issued a warning that some travelers were forging test results to return to China.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)