GARDAI are investigating after a healthcare worker in Dublin was spat upon by someone who later tested positive for Covid-19.
The incident occurred at Blanchardstown Hospital, and reports indicate that the attack was deliberate.
It isn't known whether the attacker knew that they were infected, but the malice and stupidity of the assault at time such as this doesn't make it any less abhorrent.
Gardai are calling on people to report any instances where they have been threatened or intimated by people deliberately coughing or spitting at them.
They say the activity can amount to an offence under the Public Order Act or Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.
It comes amid a flurry of reports that Garda members, pedestrians, elderly people and even Health Minister Simon Harris have been targeted by people trying to cough or spit at them.
Earlier this week there were reports that teenagers were playing 'Covid-19 tag', which involved them running up to elderly people queuing outside a pharmacy and touching them shouting 'Covid-19'.
A Dublin nurse also spoke of how she and a number of others were approached by a group of teenagers on Clontarf seafront who blocked the footpath before coughing on passersby.
Gardaí are currently conducting three separate criminal investigations into recent incidents where service staff have been purposely coughed or spat on while carrying out their work, with two of the victims being Gardaí, according to RTÉ.
