A POLICE organisation has said criminals have been "weaponising" coronavirus.

The number of assaults on officers involving spitting or coughing between March and June has doubled compared to the previous years.

Mark Jones, general secretary of North Wales Police Federation, described new figures which graphically illustrate the immense dangers faced by officers involved in the attacks as ‘absolutely appalling.’

FOI requests made by the BBC also found almost one-third of assault charges on South Wales Police officers were related to spitting or coughing during the same period.

Mr Jones said: “The amount of deliberate coughing and spitting at police officers has risen quite sharply, certainly in North Wales and across the rest of the country.

"To see that form of assault and attack on a police officer is worrying.

“These attacks have huge personal and often unseen consequences on officers – psychologically our members have to deal with the consequences of a potentially lethal virus.

"That’s just not acceptable for a society in the 21st century and needs to be stopped through increased sentences for these cowardly offenders.

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“It's quite deliberate and serious intent on the person who commits such a crime, to potentially inflict what is a killer upon an emergency service worker.

“It's just absolutely appalling to weaponise a virus or disease against police officers and emergency service workers. It's unlike anything we've ever seen before, and an unseen and silent killer.”

Police Federation of England and Wales national chair John Apter has called for offenders who weaponise the virus and place officers at risk to be jailed.

Mr Apter said: “Coughing and spitting, threatening to spread Covid-19 to my colleagues is disgraceful and completely unacceptable and we must send out a strong message that this behaviour will not be tolerated by our society.

“Sadly, being spat at by vile individuals is nothing new for police officers.

"But to weaponise it and threaten to spread a deadly virus is a new low and must be met head on by the criminal justice system.

"There must be a consequence, and that consequence should be prison.”