Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the shocking moment a smoking Chinese Walmart customer refuses to wear a surgical mask and spits in the face of a staff member who tries to take his temperature.

The incident took place at a Walmart supermarket branch in the city of Fuqing in East China’s Fujian Province on 2nd February.

Walmart was one of the first international brands to move into China where it has over 400 stores and at the end of last year announced plans to more than double by opening another 500 new stores.

in the CCTV footage shot at the store it shows shopper Mr Chen and his wife entering the Walmart branch and preparing to use the escalator when they are stopped by the female employee.

Mr Chen’s wife is seen wearing a surgical mask, but he is smoking a cigarette and does not have one on.

As the couple are stopped and asked to submit to a temperature test, Mr Chen appears to spit in the staff member’s face before walking away.

Wang Shengzhong, manager of the Walmart branch, said he called the police following the incident.

Mr Chen was summoned by authorities with Yinxi Police Station.

He was charged with a public order offence but was in the end let off with a warning after receiving the understanding and forgiveness from the Walmart employee, the police said.

It is now mandatory to wear surgical masks in public spaces in major Chinese cities as the Wuhan coronavirus spreads to every corner of the country.

The pneumonia-like disease has so far killed 491 people in mainland China, as well as one individual in Hong Kong and one in the Philippines.

There are now 24,584 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide.

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