Police in Britain charged a man who allegedly contaminated products at a supermarket by rubbing his saliva on them amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Benjamin Best, 20, of Dorset, southern England, allegedly entered a Lidl store while wearing a face mask and gloves at around 2 p.m. on Friday, April 3.
Dorset Police accused Best of then lowering the face mask and licking his fingers before purposefully rubbing them on an item in the store.
Best was subsequently arrested and charged with one count of contaminating or interfering with goods with intent.
Police said the suspect did not have a confirmed case of the coronavirus and was not displaying any symptoms. Best is next due to appear at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court on May 6, 2020.
There have been a number of incidents involving people deliberately coughing and spitting on people or objects during the pandemic.
Last month, a Pennsylvania supermarket said it had to throw out more than $35,000 worth of food after a woman purposefully coughed on a number of items.
Joe Fasula, co-owner of Gerrity’s Supermarket, accused the woman of playing a “very twisted prank” by causing panic at their Hanover Township store.
“While it is always a shame when food is wasted, in these times when so many people are worried about the security of our food supply, it is even more disturbing,” Fasula said.
Supermarket workers removed the woman from the store and she was later taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Elsewhere, a man was arrested in Arizona by Yuma Police after video footage emerged allegedly showing him coughing on a gas pump handle and talking about spreading the coronavirus on April 4.
The suspect, identified as a 23-year-old male from Winterhaven, California, faces charges of unlawful use of an infectious biological substance.
During police interviews, he told officers he was copying videos that he had seen online over the past few weeks. The man also did not show any symptoms of the virus.
“Please remember that social distancing along with the use of gloves and disinfectant during this crisis is an important defense against COVID-19,” Yuma Police Sergeant Lori Franklin said.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus.
There are more than 1.28 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world, with over 70,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. A total of 270,372 people have recovered from the virus.
This graph, provided by Statista, shows the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. as of April 6.
Statista
