Infosys employee arrested for shocking call to spread Coronavirus; company sacks him

A software engineer working for Infosys in Bengaluru has been arrested for giving a call to spread the novel coronavirus, Bengaluru Police said on Friday. The company has then sacked him citing 'zero tolerance' policy. In a shocking Facebook post, the person identified as Mujeeb Mohammad wrote that people should sneeze in the open and spread coronavirus. Bengaluru Police on Friday said that he has been arrested for his post amid the outbreak of COVID 19 that has so far claimed 19 lives. 

"The person who put this post saying people should go out and sneeze and spread the virus has been detained. His name is Mujeeb. He works in a software company," Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Infosys said it is 'deeply concerned', adding that it 'strongly reaffirm commitment to responsible social-sharing' and has a 'zero-tolerance policy.' It has said that after investigation, it has found that the case is not of 'a mistaken identity' and hence it has sacked the employee. 

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Earlier this month, Infosys in Bengaluru evacuated one of its satellite office buildings following reports of its employee coming in contact with a suspected coronavirus patient. The IIPM building was evacuated as a precautionary measure, and the place was sanitised, an official said. The development came after the Karnataka government advised IT and other professionals working in air-conditioned places to work from home for time being, for about a week, to prevent the spread of the virus.

Kerala reports highest number of COVID-19 cases at 176 in India, tests over 5000 samples

Coronavirus in India

As of March 28, India has reported  791 cases so far, and 19 deaths. To tackle the growing cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown for 21 days. The highest number of cases have been reported from Kerala - 176 cases and Maharashtra - 156 cases. 

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Meanwhile, on Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Monday, has published a study warning about community transmission of the pandemic that may take place from a minimum of 20 days to a few months. It also states that by quarantining of individuals with symptoms of COVID-19 can delay the introduction of the virus into the community by three days to three weeks  - which in turn reduces cumulative cases by 62%  and the peak number of cases by 89%, in an optimistic scenario. 

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