The novel coronavirus has taken over the world within three months of its outbreak in Mainland China. The infection has till now taken the lives of nearly 4,717 people with more than 127,749 people undergoing treatment for the fatal virus, reported CNBC. The pandemic has made people wary of their personal hygiene and the surroundings they are in. From adopting healthy habits to refraining from being in close contact with people to avoiding public places, people are taking every precaution to prevent being infected by the deadly virus.
A report by The Hindu said that European public health authorities say people should avoid shaking hands to curb the spread of coronavirus, which can be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. Hence, to contain the virus, people across the globe are adopting the traditional Indian way of greeting their guests by doing ‘Namaste’.
Earlier, the Queen had avoided shaking hands with foreign deligates, but now she’s returned to her traditional way of greeting, that too without gloves, despite coronavirus scare. However, the Heir to the British throne, Prince Charles decided to adopt the Indian gesture.
He was recently seen ditching the western handshake and adopting the Namaste-style greeting at the Prince’s Trust awards on Wednesday, reported Evening Standard.
He went on to greet the people at the event, right from TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly to Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood with a ‘Namaste’ gesture.
He also reportedly switched to the traditional Indian greeting at the Commonwealth Day service, where handshakes were banned. Speaking about not shaking hands with people, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was also at the service earlier, said:
“There is a good reason for not shaking hands, which is that the behavioural psychologists say that if you don’t shake somebody’s hand that sends an important message to them about the importance of washing your hands. So there is a subliminal cue there to everybody to wash your hands.”
Here’s the video:
Well, when the world is faced by a pandemic that’s killing people with every passing day, adopting the ‘namaste’ comes as a sensible move. See, we Indians knew it. After all, there are practical and scientific reasons behind most of our traditions, right?