COVID-19 tests are unpleasant but they’re absolutely necessary to keep everyone safe. That’s why in the dreamy archipelago of Fernando de Noronha in northeastern Brazil, negative COVID-19 test results are a prerequisite to come and relax on what is often deemed the most beautiful beach in the world. However, last week, four travelers decided that the rules didn’t apply to them and landed in jail, the Associated Press reported.
Photo: Luciano Albano/Shutterstock
Four Tourists Jailed in Brazil for Faking COVID-19 Test Results
On October 28, two men and two women from Brazil took a private jet to the archipelago and provided their negative test results from October 25. However, authorities in Fernando de Noronha require that upon entry, travelers show the negative results of tests administered earlier than one day before departure. Because the travelers’ test results were too old to be accepted, officials asked that they be retested, but the visitors refused, claiming that they had taken a test one day before departure but were still waiting for the results.
The travelers soon showed new negative test results but suspicious authorities called the lab to verify the information only to learn that the visitors falsified the documentation by changing the date on earlier results. For their efforts, they ended up in jail and were retested.
Fernando de Noronha reopened to tourists on October 10, on the condition that travelers are able to show negative COVID-19 tests taken no earlier than one day before departure. 