Man faces five-year jail term for pulling off coronavirus prank inside Moscow metro

A prankster's coronavirus joke inside Moscow metro has landed him in jail where he could possibly be serving a five-year prison term. According to media reports, the social media influencer named Karomatullo Dzhaborov pulled off a prank inside a metro rail in Moscow where he collapsed and pretended to have a seizure while his friend announced to the fellow travellers that he was suffering from coronavirus, causing them to panic.

The prank, which was not considered funny, led to the man's arrest on February 8 on charges of hooliganism which carries a maximum sentence of five years in Russia. 

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As per reports, the YouTuber is from Tajikistan and shared the video on his social media pages on February 2. The video led to his arrest and has now been removed from both his YouTube and Instagram handle. Reportedly, his two friends who participated in the prank were also identified by the authorities and were asked to leave Russia by the interior minister.

Karomatullo's lawyer Alexei Popov, while talking to the media, said that the prank was pulled off to raise awareness among citizens. Popov further added that the men in the prank also shot other videos where they can be seen asking people if they were aware of the coronavirus. Reportedly, they also shot videos in pharmacies that were selling masks at higher prices.

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Coronavirus outbreak

According to the latest reports, the coronavirus outbreak has claimed more than 1,100 lives and over 44,000 new cases have been confirmed in China as of February 11. The country recorded its highest number of deaths in a single day since the outbreak as it reported 108 deaths on Monday.

US Center for Disease Control (CDC) has said that the virus has already spread to 27 countries. United States President’s Coronavirus Task Force on Friday informed that the development of a vaccine is progressing well and it would hopefully be ready within three months. Media reports had earlier suggested that the virus originated from a seafood market in China's Hubei province, where animals were being traded illegally. 

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