10 refused entry in Zamboanga over fake swab test results test results

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — The city government of Zamboanga turned away 10 passengers who arrived on commercial flights from Manila for presenting fake reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction or RT-PCR test results.

Eight of the passengers arrived at the Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) on Saturday, according to Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar. Two others, both residents of Jolo, Sulu, arrived on Sunday.

The passengers were fined before they were allowed to stay overnight in a local hotel at their own expense, to wait for their return flight the following day.

The local inter-agency task force said they have refused entry to 23 passengers since last week for presenting fake swab test results.

The city government imposes a maximum fine of P5,000 on any traveler who fails to present a negative RT-PCR result or falsifies the same.

Violators are told to immediately return to their points of origin and charged for violating the law.

Despite being under general community quarantine, the city strictly requires travelers to present negative RT-PCR test results due to the threat of the more contagious Delta variant.

This developed after a case of Delta variant was detected among the samples sent by the regional health office to the Philippine Genome Center in July.