The man filmed himself sneezing on people at a Christchurch supermarket.

A man has been arrested after posting a video coughing and sneezing at fellow shoppers at a Christchurch supermarket.

In the video, posted to Facebook, the man smiles as he coughs and sneezes on shoppers at Fresh Choice supermarket in Barrington.

He then turns the camera on the shoppers as he apologises. He has since deleted the video.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF The incident happened at the Fresh Choice supermarket in Barrington.

A police spokesman confirmed on Sunday a 38-year-old man was arrested on Saturday evening.

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"The man has been charged with endangering life by criminal nuisance and obstruction of a medical officer of health."

He is due to appear at the Christchurch District Court on Monday.

A police spokesman earlier called the behaviour "abhorrent", even without a pandemic.

"[It] is quite frankly dangerous in the current environment."

A spokeswoman for the supermarket said they would co-operate with authorities in any way needed.

"The person in the video has since apologised and indicated it was a drunken prank, which is obviously not funny at all in these challenging times.

"We take the safety of our team and customers extremely seriously, and this is our absolute priority, and like all supermarkets, Fresh Choice Barrington has put a number of extra steps in place over and above the norm to ensure the store is clean and safe for people to shop and work in."

The spokeswoman said the store had been thoroughly cleaned since the incident "over and above" the already heightened precautionary sanitisation and cleaning regimes already in place.

"We would strongly discourage any customers from doing anything like this in any supermarket. The police have been very clear that it's irresponsible and unacceptable behaviour."

The man in the video is seen wearing a Graham Hill Roofing jacket. However, in a post on the company's Facebook page, he never worked directly for them.

"This person was an employee of a temping agency. We are working with the police to get our clothing back and will assist them with any information they require in this matter," the posts said.