Madrid: A Spanish man with symptoms of the novel coronavirus has been charged with intentionally causing injury after allegedly infecting 22 people.


This as the 40-year-old man, who worked on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, coughed on his work colleagues and told them “I’m going to give you all the coronavirus”, Associated Press reported.


The Spanish Police, which began the investigation after a Covid-19 outbreak at the company, said the man showed Covid-19 symptoms days before the outbreak but refused the suggestions of his colleagues to go home and self-isolate.


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The man refused to go home despite the instructions of his superiors after he allegedly showed a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius.


Police said the man walked around his workplace, lowering his face mask and coughing on people, saying “I’m going to infect you all with the coronavirus”.


His PCR test was reported to positive at the end of the day following which his colleagues were tested and five of them tested positive who infected their family members, including three infants, police said.


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Besides, three people also tested positive at the gym the man visited. They also infected their family members.


A judge charged the man and released him on Saturday evening to await trial, Spain’s Europa Press news agency reported.