The 41-year-old man, who has not been named, was fined for spreading false information, police in the Central Highlands province said Sunday.

The Cu Jut District medical center heard about the man's positive test result from his sister, so it dispatched staff to test him again for confirmation. It was after the test results returned negative, that the trickery was discovered, local media reported.

Authorities found that the man had rapid antigen Covid-19 done at the Tam Duc General Hospital in Dak Lak on August 21. The result was negative, but the employee of the Cao Nguyen Xanh telecom firm did not want to go to work, so he changed the result to positive.

He photographed the forged coronavirus test and sent it to the company and some of his relatives via the Zalo and Messenger apps.

His action was deemed as spreading false information regarding Covid-19 that caused confusion and worry among the community, local authorities said.