Published 15:08 IST, March 11th 2020
Chinese man arrested after falsely claiming to have been infected with coronavirus
Amid coronavirus dread, a Chinese man was recently arrested after the authorities found that he had been lying about being infected with the deadly virus.
Amid coronavirus dread, a Chinese man was recently arrested after the authorities found that he had been lying about being infected with the deadly virus. Fear and panic among people have been increasing as the virus has already claimed more than 4,000 lives. Leaders around the world have also been doing their best to contain the spread of the disease.
However, according to reports, the Chinese man took the opportunity to bunk his office. The man reportedly called his office one day and told them that he had the symptoms of coronavirus in order to avoid going to work. What he thought would have been the perfect excuse led to him getting arrested.
According to a Chinese news outlet, the false revelation by the unnamed man led to a shut down of all operations and all employees were even quarantined. In a bid to convince his office, the man even said he was shopping at a supermarket at the same time when another patient had been in the shop. However, the police found the discrepancies in the man's story after investigation.
The documents that he had submitted to prove his presence in the supermarket turned out to fake. Now, the man has been reportedly jailed for three months for spreading misinformation. He has also been given six months of probation.
China steps up quarantine measures
Meanwhile, amid mounting cases of the deadly COVID-19, China resorted to stepping up its quarantine measures on the foreign nationals as well. It also offered assistance to the countries abroad like Iran and Japan which are severely impacted by the contagion. Minister of China's National Health Commission (NHC) Ma Xiaowei told a news conference that despite some success in containing the strain of the new virus, there was a risk of the epidemic rebounding.
First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across more than 90 countries since December 2019. As per reports, the total number of confirmed cases within China has reportedly hit 80,785 and more than one lakh worldwide. According to reports, the death toll in China has also surpassed 3,000 with the National Health Commission confirming more than 31 new cases. The death toll due to the deadly virus across the world now reportedly mounted to over 4,300.
Updated 15:08 IST, March 11th 2020