An elderly man in northern China deliberately applied spit onto the buttons of an elevator.

The video, shot in the city of Datong in Shanxi Province on February 7, shows an old man standing at the lift entrance, spitting onto his hand and then rubbing his hand onto the buttons.

Property management received a report from a resident who found the buttons were abnormal and investigated the case.

Tensions are running high in China due to the coronavirus outbreak. The virus reportedly killed 97 people in China on Sunday alone, making it the deadliest day yet.

After officials found the old man, they checked his temperature and asked him the reason.

The old man and his family reportedly had normal temperatures and did not have any links with anyone from other virus-hit provinces. He said that he was just joking.

After being told off by the police officer, he admitted his fault and apologised.

The elevator was halted for half a day after sanitation workers had disinfected it twice. The lift was back to normal and It was then being disinfected once in two hours.

2月7日上午9点57分，大同市五洲帝景小区一期三号楼某单元的电梯内，一位戴着眼镜文质彬彬的老大爷进入电梯内，做出龌龊之事，被电梯内监控拍了个正着。
不知出于何种目的，这位老人把口水吐在自己的手上，涂抹电梯按键，之后从容离开。业主使用电梯时候发现异常，马上向物业物业进行了举报。物业公司在得到业主举报后非常重视，第一时间向社区进行报告， 10分钟后，社区工作人员与辖区派出所民警及时赶到现场展开调查。
通过调取监控找到了当事人，为当事人测量体温 ，并进行相关询问，经调查后， 当事人为山西大同人，检测全家人员体温正常，家中也没有外地回同人员，近期没有外出。因闲来无事，想到最近疫情恐慌就想开个玩笑，没想到电梯里的摄像头全部拍了下来，自己一个无心的玩笑竟造成如此大的影响。之后民警对其进行了严厉的批评教育，该业主承认错误之后，也写下了认错书，保证不会再犯。
五州帝景尚诚物业接到此情况后，迅速组织保洁人员对电梯内部进行两次消毒处理，为了防止消毒液味道产生的氯气对住户身体健康造成影响，要求电梯维保单位特派人员对电梯进行换气循环处理，并停用半天电梯，之后每隔两小时做一次消毒，现已恢复正常。
（视频由微信用户大同市五洲帝景小区物业工作人员“小刘”提供）