Coronavirus prankster faces five-years' jail for Moscow metro stunt

Police in Moscow have arrested a man suspected of imitating a coronavirus victim and collapsing on a metro train as a prank, officials say.

In footage posted online, passengers are seen trying to assist a man in a mask as he stumbles and falls to the floor of a busy train carriage.

They then rush away when he appears to suffer serious convulsions.

The suspect was detained on suspicion of criminal hooliganism and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Russia's interior ministry confirmed the arrest on Monday, adding that a search was under way to find two people who were heard shouting in the video that the suspect was infected with the new coronavirus.

"Accomplices shouted phrases about the presence of a dangerous viral infection... provoking a panic among passengers," a spokeswoman for the ministry, Irina Volk, said in a statement.

Russia's Vesti news website tweeted the footage, describing the incident as a "prank that got out of control".