According to someone who shared the photo on Reddit, the image was taken outside the North Point police station.

The image was greeted with both praise and disgust.

"Karma!" wrote one person.

"I think we opened the champagne a little bit too early, they are not dead yet," wrote another. "I will open two if one of the police is dead."

Others found the act abhorrent.

"Definitely seems to be in poor taste," wrote someone.

"Celebrating that somebody got infected or even died is just wrong. No matter what he did before," added someone else. "Don't get yourself dragged down to the level of your opposite."

Others weighed in to point out that New Zealand was contributing to the situation by providing the wine.

"It's a bottle of New Zealand bubbly. Pretty good taste for reasonable money," one person commented.

Oyster Bay has been approached for comment.

It appears the act was in retaliation to a comment made by another police officer in November last year. According to the South China Morning Post, the officer said he would celebrate "with champagne" after a university student lost his life after falling four metres from a car park during a protest.

Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 after 99 years of British rule. But despite a deal to retain its own economic and legal systems - and effectively remain independent - until 2047, many Hong Kongers say their freedoms are slowly being eroded.

The protests - often violent - were sparked last year after Hong Kong's government proposed a new bill that would allow the extradition of people suspected of committing crimes to countries that did not have extradition treaties with Hong Kong. Included in those countries was mainland China.

Although Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam eventually backed down from the bill, it proved a catalyst, igniting fears that many Hong Kongers had over China's increasing influence in the territory.