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By Jake Horton and Daniele Palumbo
BBC Reality Check
Published1 day ago
BBC research has cast doubt on the timing of the positive Covid test Novak Djokovic used to enter Australia to try to compete in the Australian Open.
It was provided to exempt him from rules barring unvaccinated people.
However, the serial number on his test on 16 December appears out of sequence with a sample of tests from Serbia over this period gathered by the BBC.
It is also higher than for his second (negative) test result from six days later.
His visa application was ultimately rejected, but not on these grounds.
These findings raise questions over what impact a later positive test result would have had on his ability to enter Australia.
What are people questioning?
Documents submitted by his lawyers to federal court in Australia included two Covid (PCR) test certificates, one with a positive result on 16 December and one with a negative result on 22 December.
A German research group called Zerforschung first picked up on the discrepancy that the earlier test had a higher confirmation code than the later one.
They wrote a blog titled “Novak Djokovic’s time-travelling PCR tests“, and partnered with German news site Der Spiegel who reported on the issue.
Documents submitted to the federal court in Australia included one from the acting director of Serbia’s official health body, confirming the dates on these certificates accurately reflected when the tests had been carried out.
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Mr Djokovic was tested in Serbia, and received his results from the Institute of Public Health of Serbia.
All these test results have a unique confirmation code.
We wanted to check whether these numbers are generated in strict chronological order in a single national database at the time of processing.
If so, it would bring into question why the earlier test had a higher serial number.
So we collected data from as many Serbian test certificates as we could to plot these confirmation codes on a timeline.
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The confirmation codes in all cases slotted into the same chronological timeline as our initial batch sent by BBC colleagues and showed that the earlier the test result date, the lower the confirmation code.
The only outlier of all the confirmation codes we’ve plotted was Mr Djokovic’s positive test on 16 December.
We have tests in our sample from 16 December as well as from the days either side.
They all follow the expected pattern with confirmation numbers increasing chronologically.
If you then take the confirmation code for Mr Djokovic’s positive test on 16 December (7371999), it fits on our line between the test code results we have for 25 December (7366969) and 28 December (7415312).
This would seem to suggest a test from between these two later dates.
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What could explain the discrepancy?
We know that the two tests taken by Mr Djokovic were processed in different laboratories, and it’s possible that these labs were issued with different batches of confirmation codes.
This might explain why his first test has a higher code than his second.
However, in our list of confirmation codes, we have two that were processed in the same lab as Mr Djokovic’s positive test (two days and four days after his sample). They both have lower confirmation codes.
In addition, the test results we gathered were processed at eight different labs, and there is nothing in the data to suggest different labs have separate batches of confirmation codes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/59999541
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BBC investigation raises doubts over timing of Novak Djokovic’s positive COVID test
Posted 8h ago
Key points:
- The BBC analysed 56 COVID tests from Serbia, finding that Djokovic’s two submitted test results were out of sequence
- Its findings suggest Djokovic’s positive test may have actually occurred between December 25 and December 28
- Djokovic’s initial medical exemption was granted on the basis he tested positive on December 16
The date of a positive COVID test Novak Djokovic used to enter Australia has been called into question by a BBC investigation which analysed the serial numbers of test results he submitted to the Federal Court.
The world number one tennis player was deported earlier this month after the Federal Court rejected his bid to overturn a federal government decision to cancel his visa.
Djokovic’s initial medical exemption was granted on the basis he tested positive on December 16, 2021.
Among documents Djokovic’s lawyers filed to the Federal Court were two COVID-19 tests — one which indicated he had tested positive on December 16, 2021, and one which showed he had tested negative on December 22, 2021.
The documents submitted to the Federal Court included a confirmation from the acting director of Serbia’s health body confirming the accuracy of the dates on the certificates.
However, the BBC investigation found Djokovic’s two tests were out of sequence, as the serial number for the later test (7320919) was lower than the earlier test (7371999).
Examining 56 COVID-19 tests they had gathered from Serbia, the BBC found that all the codes fit in the same chronological order, except for Djokovic’s December 16 positive test.
According to their analysis, the serial number of Djokovic’s positive test fit chronologically in between tests dated December 25 and December 28. The BBC said this suggested his positive test result may have actually occurred sometime between these two dates.
The BBC said it had put its findings to Serbia government officials on multiple occasions but had not received a response.
Djokovic’s team had also not responded to interview requests.
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