A man was arrested and is now in jail after he stole three surgical masks from a hospital in the United Kingdom.
Lerun Hussain, 34, pleaded guilty to the theft on Tuesday and was sentenced to three months in prison. Hussain was arrested Sunday morning at King’s College Hospital in London after being detained by hospital staff who noticed the crime. He was held for both the theft and for breaching a court order.
The theft comes as the U.K. faces shortages of personal protective equipment, such as surgical masks. Cases of coronavirus infections and deaths have soared there in recent weeks, with more than 55,000 confirmed cases and at least 6,159 deaths, according to a count by the Johns Hopkins University.
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U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is the most prominent political figure in the world to have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Johnson, 55, was taken to the hospital last weekend and was later moved to the intensive care unit on Monday.
Although not on a ventilator, the prime minister has received “standard oxygen treatments” and as of Wednesday has shown signs of improvement.
