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Is it time to drop handshakes, high fives and hugs amid coronavirus outbreak?

March 5, 2020

An Auckland doctor says it’s important to remember Covid-19 is contracted through the eyes, nose and mouth.

With the Covid-19 coronavirus in New Zealand, is it time to drop the handshake, high five, hug or hongi in favour of an alternative greeting?

The handshake has been around since the Fifth century BC when it was a show of peace, meant to show neither person was carrying a weapon.

But should we think about abandoning the handshake until the coronavirus passes?

The NBA has sent a memo to its players suggesting fist-bumps are the safer way to go.

Auckland medical doctor Jodie O'Sullivan says the less we touch our face with our hands the better.

"How you're going to catch it [Covid-19] is through the holes in your face, so eyes, nose mouth,” Dr O'Sullivan told Seven Sharp.

"So if you don't pick your nose, suck your thumb, bite your nails, then you're safe."

"It [Covid-19] can live on surfaces for a period of time, but you have to be quite close contact, you are not going to just walk down the street and touch some random thing that has caronavirus."

"This is not as catchy as measles, measles that is super catchy."

Dr O'Sullivan also emphasised the importance of hand washing.

"Hopefully if everyone's washing hands as they should do and blowing into a tissue or sneezing into a tissue, all the usual flu coughs and colds will drop, which would be fantastic," she said.

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