A man who filmed himself licking items on a supermarket shelf and asking “who’s afraid of coronavirus?” has been arrested on terror charges.
Police in Warrenton, Virginia, US, arrested a man after the horrifying clip was spread around the globe.Suspect Cody Pfister, 26, has been charged with making a terrorist threat following the incident in a Walmart store.
Horrified viewers who saw the footage from as far away as the UK and Netherlands made reports to police.
And Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan called for the culprit to be locked up and refused medical help for “deliberately” trying to harm other people.
“This is of somebody in America, who went to a supermarket knowing the coronavirus is attacking everyone in the United States, and he did this and posted it online,” he said on the ITV programme.
“What I would like to happen to him is I’d like him found, and I am sure they will get him.”I would like him put in prison, immediately.
“And then I would like him deprived of any healthcare should he then get the virus having tried to deliberately give it to potentially lots of other people.
“That might concentrate the minds of these morons and it might concentrate the minds of these morons we have here.”
The police department confirmed the man was a local resident and said he was “making a ‘Corona Virus’ statement” and had been taken into custody.
Referring to the far-reaching reports they’d received, the statement added: “We take these complaints very seriously and would like to thank all of those who reported the video so the issue could be addressed.”
Many social media users had identified the man and said he lives in Missouri which has seen 183 virus cases and six deaths.
It comes as Donald Trump set a goal for the US to re-open in less than three weeks by Easter Sunday, despite fears it could become the worst-hit country as cases continue to rise.
The World Health Organisation has said the US could become the new coronavirus epicentre following a “very large acceleration” in cases amounting to around 40 per cent of global infections in 24 hours on Tuesday.
Italy it currently the worst-hit nation with more than 6,800 deaths and almost 70,000 confirmed patients, surpassing China last week where over 3,200 people have died.
The US has seen a surge in new cases as testing capacity increases and could soon overtake Italy with the total number over 46,400.
Experts have warned the virus spread in the country is yet to peak with 15 states now in various forms of lockdown and fears the crisis could last for months.
Mr Trump’s calls came as New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that hospital capacity will soon hit a breaking point and pleaded for more White House support.
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