A young woman in Bone regency, South Sulawesi was recently arrested after faking seizures and claiming that she was infected with the coronavirus at a local hospital.
On Friday evening, 20-year-old Anisa Rahma and her friends, identified as ES, Di and Da, reportedly consumed an excessive amount of alcohol to the point that Anisa had seizures and collapsed.
Her friends then brought Anisa to Hapsah Hospital in the regency’s capital of Watampone, where she claimed that she just recently had direct contact with her grandfather, who was COVID-19 positive, in the Papua capital of Jayapura.
As she had asked to get tested, the hospital then referred her to Tenriawaru General Hospital, which is located nearby, in accordance with COVID-19 protocol. During the examination, the medical team found that Anisa’s body temperature was normal and she didn’t exhibit any other symptoms of COVID-19. They became suspicious after noticing that her breath smelled of alcohol.
The hospital staff didn’t examine Anisa further and later sent her home. They reported her to Bone Police instead, and the four of them were arrested on Sunday.
“From the hospital that filed the report, it became chaotic there because she claimed to have been in contact with her coronavirus-positive grandfather. Later we found out that she was lying, that it was a prank. After questioning her, it was really just a prank. Three of her friends have also admitted that Anisa was laughing on their way home, she said ‘I just pranked you all’,” Bone Police’s Crime Unit Chief Mohammad Pahrun said on Monday.
Pahrun said that Anisa was named as a suspect yesterday, and she was charged with creating a public disturbance by spreading a fake story, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
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