COVID-positive man boards flight disguised as his wife

An Indonesian man with the coronavirus has boarded a domestic flight disguised as his wife, wearing a niqab covering his face and carrying fake IDs and a negative PCR test result.

But the cover didn't last long.

Police say a flight attendant aboard a Citilink plane travelling from Jakarta to Ternate in North Maluku province on Sunday, July 18, noticed the man change the clothes in the lavatory.

"He bought the plane ticket with his wife's name and brought the identity card, the PCR test result and the vaccination card with his wife's name. All documents are under his wife's name," Ternate police chief Aditya Laksimada said after arresting the man upon landing. He was only identified by his initials.

Police took him for a COVID-19 test, which came back positive.

The man is currently self-isolating at home and police said the investigation will continue.

Across Indonesia, where there were a record 2069 deaths on Tuesday, taking the overall death toll to 86,835. The foreign ministry said 57 foreigners had lost their lives to COVID and 4014 had been infected there during the pandemic.

Restrictions on nonessential travel, including a mandatory negative coronavirus test, and public gatherings have been toughened over the Eid al-Adha holiday this week.

The Australian government is working with Qantas to organise a flight for expats stranded in Indonesia, with nearly 800 registered as wanting to return home from a country that is now the global epicentre of the virus.