On 27 March, an Infosys employee in Bengaluru has been arrested by the City Crime Branch for a shocking social media post, urging people to ‘go out and sneeze’ and spread the contagious COVID-19 virus. So far, the pandemic disease has infected over 904 people across the country and has killed 19.

As per sources, the accused identified as Mujeeb Mohammad, a 25-year-old Infosys employee has reportedly posted on Facebook, “Let’s join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus.”

Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner (CCB), Bengaluru said that the accused has admitted to circulating the message and they were now in the process of scrutinizing Mohammed’s documents, laptops, and mobile phones.

The Bengaluru Police has also registered a case against Mohammed under Section 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) as well as sections 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) and 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) of the Indian Penal Code, for causing fear and panic in society.

Following a public outrage on social media, the Global IT services giant – Infosys Limited has responded, stating that the post was ‘against the code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing’. The company took to Twitter asserting that “Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees. The company has a zero-tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee.”

Earlier, on 14 March, as a precautionary measure, the company has vacated one of its satellite buildings in Bengaluru, where a team member was suspect of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, there are 64 confirmed cases of the pandemic disease in Karnataka, with at least 3 deaths reported due to COVID-19. As per sources, one among the infected patients is a 10-month-old infant from a village in Dakshina Kannada district. Reportedly, the infant has been admitted to a private hospital in Mangaluru, with high fever and respiratory illness.

Globally, the pandemic disease has infected around 597,458 and the death toll has been increased to 27,370. Of these, the United States has reported the highest cases around the world with 104,256 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,704 deaths.