A Facebook live video from Mumbai international airport by a UK-based NRI Manoj Ladwa went viral after Mr Ladwa claimed his positive PCR test was a “scam”.
Manoj Ladwa, who arrived in Mumbai from the UK on a Virgin Atlantic airlines flight, went live on Facebook at 11.35 pm on 30 December. The shared video claimed that the BMC staff refused to let him have a second ‘independent’ PCR test after being ‘magically tested positive.
He said, “Everybody, I’ve just come to India for my father in law’s funeral. I have been magically tested positive at Bombay International Airport. These all people are from the same flight as us, Virgin. Virgin misled so many of these people on a flight who are all positive but were negative yesterday.”
54-year-old Mr Ladwa hails from Porbandar in Gujarat. He lives in Staines in Britain, where he runs a construction company.
In the video, he said his father-in-law died 24 hours ago.
“We’ve rushed to get to India, and these people are screwing this over to try and get more money out of us. Please can you help? This is just unreal. I’ve done a lateral flow test that came out negative in front of all of these people, and they’re saying that I’m positive I want an independent test,” said Mr Ladwa.
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In another video, he said his wife left for home without him. He was eventually taken to Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri after a nine-hour stand-off at the airport.
The BMC officials told Indian media that they were following the Covid-19 testing norms, which direct passengers arriving from ‘at-risk’ countries such as the United Kingdom would undergo RT-PCR test on arrival.
“If this sample is also positive, then the collected sample for routine RT-PCR shall be sent immediately for genome sequencing, and the passenger shall be directed for institutional quarantine. If sample is negative, the passenger shall be allowed to go home for mandatory home quarantine for a total period of seven days; all symptomatic passengers testing positive at the airport are admitted at Seven Hills hospital. Any such patient preferring admission in a private hospital can be transferred to Bombay Hospital or Breach Candy Hospital,” reads a BMC circular.
