Man wearing coronavirus mask licks hands and wipes them over subway

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By VT

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A man wearing a coronavirus mask has been filmed licking his hands and wiping them over a subway in Belgium.

The footage of the unidentified, allegedly intoxicated man was posted to Twitter on March 9. After the incident took place, the subway was forced into suspension so that it could be deep cleaned.

Watch the incident below: 

In the footage, the man, who is holding what seems to be a can of beer, can be seen pulling down his surgical mask before putting his fingers into his mouth and wiping his saliva onto a pole on the subway carriage.

These are the symptoms of coronavirus:

The incident was subsequently addressed by the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company, the capital's public transport provider, in a tweet. Per the Daily Mail, they wrote: "The man (intoxicated) was arrested by the police and our security service.

"The subway train was withdrawn from service to be disinfected. Thank you for your message. Our metros are cleaned every day."

According to the Daily Mail, Belgium's health minister issued a statement on Sunday revealing that the number of coronavirus cases in the country had reached 200.

This is when you should self isolate: 

The news comes after the number of cases in the US reached 1,000 earlier today, CNN reports.

At the time of writing, per the WorldOMeter live dashboard, there have been 121,503 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 4,383 deaths across 120 countries.

The official advice from the World Health Organization to prevent the spread of coronavirus is to maintain social distancing of at least three meters between yourself and anyone who is showing symptoms - such as coughing or sneezing.

Other precautionary measures advised by the WHO include frequent hand washing, avoiding touching your eyes and mouth, and practicing good respiratory hygiene.

There is also hope today after news broke that a 103-year-old grandmother recovered from the virus in just six days.