A man has been Tasered after deliberately coughing over police officers as they sat in a car and claiming he had Covid-19.

The Metropolitan Police firearms command said on Twitter that the suspect had walked up to officers in a car in Haringey, north London, and "shouted that he had coronavirus before deliberately coughing saliva all over them".

He then began to physically attack them, officers said, before he was Tasered and arrested.

The suspect was later tested for the virus and found not to have it.

Last week director of public prosecutions Max Hill warned the public that using Covid-19 as a threat against emergency workers would be treated as a crime that could lead to up to two years in prison.

Deliberately coughing at other key workers such as supermarket staff could be prosecuted as a common assault, which could mean up to six months in prison.