KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — In the face of the deadly Covid-19 outbreak, shaking hands with people is probably one of many things to avoid.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and there’s a new way of greeting people that will make shaking hands seem so yesterday.

Introducing the Wuhan Shake, the latest way of saying hello to each other using your feet instead of hands.

The new greeting has been trending on social media platforms for the past week with clips of people in China tapping their right and left foot when meeting each other.

 

The video which was posted two days ago on Twitter has been viewed 171,000 times at the time of writing with thousands of retweets and likes.

Soon enough, Western media outlets such as the BBC, New York Post and The Daily Mirror began reporting on the trendy greeting that doesn’t require using hand sanitiser afterwards.

 

Even Channel News Asia presenters in Singapore started doing the hands-free Wuhan Shake.

 

Thanks to the borderless power of social media, the Wuhan Shake is being practised as far as Africa.

Tanzania President John Magufuli greeted veteran politician Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad at the State House in the capital Dar es Salaam with the unorthodox greeting.

 

Social media has been having a field day with the Wuhan Shake along with many comments suggesting traditional methods of greetings.

Some proposed the Indian greeting of namaste where palms are pressed against the chest followed by a low bow while others recommended the Chinese traditional fist and palm salute commonly seen during Chinese New Year.

Many also lauded the idea saying it was perfect because the Wuhan Shake doesn’t require cleaning one’s hands.

Countries such as France, which has 100 confirmed cases, have urged people to refrain from the usual double-cheek kiss to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

In Italy, where 3,089 cases have been confirmed and a death toll of 107, people have also been warned against physical contact displays.

There are now nearly 95,000 cases across the globe and has killed more than 3,200 people since the virus emerged in Wuhan, China late last year.