Australia Cricketers To Continue Shaking Hands Despite Coronavirus Threat

Australia cricketers will continue shaking hands despite the wide-spread COVID-19 threat. According to a report in france24.com, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of three Australians, with the global outbreak forcing a host of sporting fixtures around the world to be cancelled or played behind closed doors.

England enforce strict fist-bump policy

Amid the coronavirus scare, England cricketers have refrained from shaking hands, by sticking to a strict fist-bump policy. It is a measure taken by the England Cricket Board (ECB), in a bid to prevent the novel coronavirus  from spreading.

England captain Joe Root last week said his players would be talking sensible precautions on their tour of Sri Lanka.

“We are not shaking hands with each other, using instead the well-established fist bump, and we are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the anti-bacterial wipes and gels we’ve been given in our immunity packs,” he said.

Plenty of hand sanitizer in the Australian kits: Justin Langer

Rather refraining for shaking hands, Australia cricketers have carried plenty of sanitizers in their kit, their coach Justin Langer said in an interview.

Langer also said, his players will keep shaking hands and move on from that.

“No, we’ll keep shaking hands… there’s plenty of hand sanitiser in the Australian kits,” he told cricket.com.au Monday following the team’s 3-0 series loss in South Africa.

“I’m sure we’ll just keep shaking hands and move on from that,” he added.

According to a report in worldometers.info, the novel cornavirus has claimed lives of 3,831 people till March 9. There are currently 110,092 confirmed cases in 109 countries and territories. The fatality rate is still being assessed.

It is also interesting to see what measure the BCCI carries out for the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is slated to get underway from March 29, 2020.