Did Omicron+ South African national leave India using fake Covid-19 report?

A traveller from South Africa, who is among the first two people in India to test positive for the Omicron variant of coronavirus, reportedly left India within seven days of testing positive by obtaining a negative Covid test report from a private lab.

The development has led to the Karnataka government directing civic officials in Bengaluru to register a police complaint and investigate the validity of a negative Covid test report provided to the 66-year-old South African traveller.

On Thursday, the Karnataka government reported that genome sequencing of samples taken from the South African national, who is the representative of a private medical firm, had detected the new Omicron variant of the virus.

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The traveller, who arrived in Bengaluru on November 20, tested positive at the airport and stayed at a five-star hotel in central Bengaluru. On November 23, he purportedly obtained a negative Covid test report from a private lab which allowed him to return to South Africa, via Dubai, on November 27.