Woman charged after allegedly coughing on police, claiming to have COVID-19

A 24-year-old Ottawa woman has been charged with assaulting policeafter she allegedly claimed to have COVID-19 and then coughed and spat atthe officers who were arresting her.

Early Sunday morning, police were called to a home on Forward Avenue to investigate a possible break-and-enter, Ottawa policesaid in a media release.

There wasno break-in, but the property owner did ask the officers to remove the woman who had an arrest warrant in her name from the premises, police said.

The woman then resisted the arrest and coughed on the officers, claiming she had the coronavirus, police said. She then allegedly spat an officer as she was taken away.

In addition to assaulting police, the woman faces three other charges: mischief, breach of probationand obstructing or resisting arrest.

Police did not say if the woman actually had COVID-19 or not.

The arrest comes one day after Gatineau police said they had charged a woman with obstruction after she allegedly lied about having the respiratory illness.