Angela Merkel's interior minister has appeared to decline a handshake from her during the coronavirus outbreak.
The incident took place at a summit in Berlin this morning, per the Daily Mail. However, the German chancellor, 65, was unphased by the snub from Horst Seehofer, 70, happily withdrawing her hand and laughing. Others present can also be heard laughing.
This is the moment Seehofer refused to shake Merkel's hand:The footage was posted to Twitter by journalist Waseem Sajjad, who captioned the clip: "German Interior Minister refused to shake hand with Chancellor Angela Merkel due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak... Horst Seehofer said he's stopped handshakes because of the virus. Merkel later said it was 'the right thing to do'."
On Twitter, people concurred with Seehofer's decision not to shake Merkel's hand as a precautionary measure.
One wrote: "He's right. People should not be shaking hands."
A second added: "That's probably a good example to set."
"Indeed that's the right thing to do," wrote a third. "Or you need to use hand sanitizer every time after a handshake."
The official advice from the World Health Organization to prevent the spread of coronavirus is to maintain social distancing of at least three meters between yourself and anyone who is showing symptoms - such as coughing or sneezing.
Other precautionary measures advised by the WHO include frequent hand washing, avoiding touching your eyes and mouth, practicing good respiratory hygiene, and seeking medical assistance immediately if you experience symptoms of the coronavirus.
This Wuhan medic broke down in tears because of the stress of the epidemic:At the time of writing, per the WHO live dashboard, there have been confirmed 89,527 cases and 3,056 deaths across 67 countries. However, the majority of the outbreak remains centered in China where it originated.
Meanwhile, NASA has released images showing that rates of pollution in China have dropped dramatically amid the outbreak.