A TEENAGE boy and a 33-year-old man are to appear in court over allegations of coughing on people and claiming they had or shouting coronavirus in two separate incidents.

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with one count of section 39 assault after a 66-year-old woman was coughed and spat on in Tameside.

The teenager who cannot be named for legal reason will appear at Tameside Youth Court on Tuesday.

Police were called on Tuesday, March 17 to a report that a boy had been coughing and shouting, "coronavirus" at a woman in Ashton-under-Lyne town centre.

A man has been charged after a police officer was coughed at by a man claiming to have Coronavirus while responding to an incident in Piccadilly Gardens.

Mateusz Rejewski (05/03/1987), of no fixed abode, has been charged with one count of common assault on an emergency service worker and one count of breaching a dispersal notice.

He has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, April 28 April 2020.

Police were responding to an incident in Piccadilly Gardens on the afternoon of Thursday, and detained a man for breaching a section 35 dispersal order.

It is alleged The man then proceeded to cough at the detaining officer while claiming he had got coronavirus.

The officer has since been self-isolating as a precaution.