‘Sneeze In Open, Spread The Virus’: Infosys Terminates Employee Who Wanted To “Spread The Virus”

The Indian IT major Infosys yesterday announced that it has terminated the services of an employee who had made a social media post encouraging people to ‘go out and sneeze’ in order to ‘spread the virus’.

The Infosys official handle on Twitter said that the company had completed its investigation on the issue and found that the post made by the employee was against its code of conduct and 'its commitment to responsible social sharing'.

In a Facebook post, Infosys employee wrote, "Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus."

The employee identified as Mujeeb Mohammed was working as a senior technology architect with the firm

Gaining overnight notoriety in the midst of ongoing global Covid-19 panic, Mohammed created a flutter on social media and in the office of his employer.

The Bengaluru-based company further said the company has a "zero-tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee".

"The person who put this post saying people should go out and sneeze and spread the virus has been detained. His name is Mujeeb. He works in a software company," Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil said in a statement, adding an investigation is underway.

“He has been a resident of Bengaluru for around 25 years. A case has been registered against him," Patil said.