The outbreak of COVID 19 has turned virulent in recent weeks, prompting people in many countries across the world including those in Africa to change social habits which involve physical contacts with others.
It seems the biggest casualty from the deadly coronavirus is handshakes with social media awash with videos of people resorting to other means of salutation.
Some people have recommended the minumum of physical contacts with others effectively discouraging the practice of handshake which is as old as time.
In its place is a touching of the other person’s feet as a mark of greetings or acknowledgment.
All this notwithstanding the educational guides which advise people what to do or not do to avoid contracting the disease with flu-like symptoms.
One such advise is hand-washing, a practice that many Africans had learned not to ditch since the outbreak of another deadly disease, Ebola.
Like the coronavirus outbreak which began in Asia, this phenomenon known as the “Wuhan Shake” after the province where the disease began, was first noticed as a general way of greeting in China.
It quickly spread to other parts of the world where the disease is wreaking havoc.
Africa which has registered a couple of cases in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal has caught on with the practice.
Africans are known for their incessant handshakes with friends, associates and strangers all day and everyday but the coronavirus is causing many to rethink this ancient social norm.
Meeting a political opponent at the presidential palace earlier this week, Tanzanian president John Magufuli was seen knocking his feet against those of Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad with a security guard watching.
In The Gambia, it is gaining currency too although with a light-hearted touch despite the grim realities attending to the outbreak in Africa.
Seeing the lighter side to life under the coronavirus threat, one of social media user writes: “I love how people can adapt and keep a sense of humor about stressful situations”.
And there is the bumping elbow as another substitute for the traditional handshake or leg-tapping.
At 17, Algeria tops the list of countries on the continent with more cases of the virus with 16 of them belonging to a single family.
In Senegal those found to have contracted the virus have doubled from two to four within the space of 48 hours while South Africa has become the latest on the continent to announce its first case.
WN/as/APA