MANAMA — A COVID-19 patient has been charged with deliberately coughing on doctors while not wearing a facemask during a visit to a coronavirus testing facility, local media reports said.

The Public Health department reported that the accused was at the facility to do a second COVID-19 test after his last examination had confirmed that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

During the second visit, the defendant deliberately removed his face mask and coughed in front of the doctors. The patient allegedly coughed in his hands and then touched the doctors on their different body parts in order to transmit the coronavirus to them, according to Akhbar Al-Khaleej daily.

“The Public Prosecution has interrogated the accused and charged him with exposing others to infection, which is a crime under Law No. 34 of 2018 regarding public health, the penalty of which is up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 dinars. The Public Prosecution has also ordered that he be held in remand, and investigations are being completed in preparation for referring the accused to the competent court,” Chief Public Prosecutor Adnan Al-Wada’i was quoted by the newspaper as saying. — SG/Agencies