US man arrested after showing fake doctor's note claiming he has coronavirus

A man in the United States was arrested and charged for using a fake doctor's note claiming he had contracted coronavirus. According to reports, 31-year-old Jeffrey Travis Long from Inman, South Carolina used the fake note which caused shut down of his workplace for five days and created panic after visiting his children in school. Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright while talking to the media said Long was charged with breach of peace and forgery. 

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According to reports, Long showed his employer a fake doctor's note from VA hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, allegedly to force them into shutting down the place. Long's company in a statement said that the workplace was sanitised after the incident. Sheriff Chuck Wright said that the actual price for the sanitisation work is not known yet but he is sure that it is expensive. 

According to Wright, Hospital officials told investigators that Long's note did not carry the official stamp from the facility and that they had not seen him in two weeks. Wright further added that it seems Long wanted a two-week long paid vacation that could be the reason behind the irresponsible act he displayed in these hard times. 

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The United States has seen a sudden surge in coronavirus cases in the last 14 days which have forced authorities to take draconian steps like shutting down all borders and banning all public gatherings in the country. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States is only second to China and Italy, countries which have recorded the most number of cases and deaths. The United States has logged in 452 deaths so far, of which 33 came in the last 24 hours. There are currently 34,087 active cases in the country.

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Coronavirus outbreak

The COVID-19 has claimed more than 14,600 lives across the world and has infected nearly 3,38,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China is the most affected country in the world as experts believe that the virus originated from a seafood market in Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally.  

Italy, Iran, and Spain are the most affected countries outside mainland China, where, as of March 22 the combined death toll stands at 8,933. Italy has surpassed China to record the most number of deaths in the world due to the virus outbreak, while Iran and Spain both have crossed the 1,500 mark.

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