Munich man arrested for licking U-Bahn handrails "to spread coronavirus"

Police have arrested a man in Munich who shared videos of himself licking various surfaces at a U-Bahn station, saying he wanted to spread coronavirus.

Man shared videos of himself licking ticket machines

The 33-year-old man told viewers he was infected with coronavirus, before licking a ticket machine and the handrail of an escalator on the Munich underground. He then shared the video on social media using the hashtag #coronachallenge, telling followers he wanted to spread coronavirus.  

Police in Munich said that various complaints were made about the videos before the man was identified and subsequently arrested. He is now being investigated on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. It is unclear whether he was actually infected or just trying to make a (bad) joke.

Police carry out curfew checks

Between Sunday and Monday, police in Munich carried out 4.000 checks on whether citizens were keeping to the new restrictions imposed in Bavaria on Friday. In total, more than 200 violations were found and, in 61 cases, the police filed a complaint.