Ever since the novel coronavirus outbreak, officially named as Covid-19, hit the headlines, social media platforms have been flooded with several videos, informative and misleading alike. While some are on how the deadly virus can be tackled, others are horrifying clips of people engaging in physical fights and many more. While authorities are concerned about preventing the spread of the epidemic worldwide, many sick people are creating fake and prank videos triggering panic among the public.
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The latest video that has gone viral on the Internet is that of a man wearing a face mask collapsing and suffering a sudden seizure inside a crowded Moscow underground metro train. The passenger boarded the carriage from the Polezhayevskaya metro station to the 1905 Ulitsa metro station. Though his co-passengers tried to help him initially, they are seen trying to escape from the train immediately after two people shouted that he was infected with the deadly coronavirus. Many of them even rushed out of the wagon at the next stop as the incident sparked an uproar.
The incident happened on February 2, 2020, and created panic among the passengers in the Russian capital. However, the video of the whole incident surfaced online later with the name 'kara.prank', and it turned out to be a prank by blogger Karomatullo Dzhaborov and his friends.
Following this, Russia's Department of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case of hooliganism on the grounds of a crime under paragraph "c" of part 1 of article 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation against the prankster.
Reports suggest that Moscow's Cheryomushkinsky court has ordered 30 days of detention for the prankster, a citizen of Tajikistan. Two of his friends were also detained by the police on Monday, February 10. They have been placed under travel restrictions while their computers and smartphones were seized as evidence.
Considering this prank to be quite a serious offence by deliberately provoking panic on the subway, the blogger is likely to face a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a fine of 500,000 rubles (£6,000).
However, Karomatullo Dzhaborov's lawyer Aleksey Popov stated that his client's intention to stage such a prank was to attract public attention on the lack of face masks and to make them aware of the need to protect themselves from the deadly coronavirus by using masks.
Meanwhile, two coronavirus cases have been identified in Russia so far. Both cases involve Chinese citizens, who are under treatment.
Watch the viral video here:
