24 police officers in the Flemish city of Aalst have been placed in quarantine after an incident involving a coronavirus positive man spitting on officers.
Police were called out on Tuesday following complaints of vandalism. When they arrived a the scene they found a man not wearing a mask, who then proceeded to spit at several police officers following a confrontation, HLN reports.
The man was arrested and given a coronavirus test, which came back positive. The arrest, coupled with the fact that the man had already been arrested just days previous, saw mass quarantines on the force. The man was then taken under police escort to the sickbay of the Bruges prison, and his punishment will be decided in the near future.
"Because of these arrests, there are no less than ten officers who had high-risk contact and fourteen officers who had low-risk contact," says Aalst mayor Christoph D'Haese. "These officers are now no longer deployable for an entire period of time."
Speaking on the incident, the mayor also made a call for emergency workers to be vaccinated as a high priority as "they are in the line of fire."
"Police officers, firefighters, ambulances and many others, they are all the first to come into contact with possible infections. They deserve to be vaccinated as a priority and, as mayor, I will give them every priority," D'Haese added.
The Brussels Times
