The Insofys software engineer who gave a call to the public to sneeze in public to spread the coronavirus has been sacked, the company said.

The tech giant, which had initially believed that it could be a case of mistaken identity, confirmed later that Mujeeb Mohammad was its employee and stated that he has been terminated from service.

'Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity,' the company tweeted late on Saturday night.

The company said the social media post by the employee was against Infosys code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing.

'Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee.'

Mohammad had posted on Facebook, 'Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus.'

He was arrested on Friday night.