M’sia Telling People Not to Do Fist Bumps Anymore As Its Infection Number Spiked Up in a Day

By
Boon Hun
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Covid-19 has changed many things.

You don’t need as much lipstick or lip gloss anymore, and fist-bumping during an official meeting is now the norm, and not you being rude.

Image: memegenerator.net

Isn’t bumping uglies fists a type of physical contact? And during the Covid-19 pandemic, shouldn’t physical contact be minimised as much as possible?

Well, Malaysia is probably thinking the same way, which is why they decided to do away with fist bumps after a particularly demoralising month.

M’sia Telling People Not to Fist Bumps Anymore As Its Infection Number Spiked Up in a Day

While Singapore’s new Covid-19 cases have decreased well into the two-digit range, Malaysia’s spiked to 100 cases on Tuesday, 8 Sep 2020.

Within the same timeframe, the Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah told Malaysians not to do fist bumps anymore.

Any physical contact between people carries with it the risk of infection, a top health official in the country had said.

People were also reminded to keep a safe distance of 1-metre between them.

As of the time of writing, Malaysia has 9,559 Covid-19 cases and 128 reported deaths.

For this Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia has demonstrated its willingness to follow this saying: Better be safe than sorry.

Despite entering lockdown earlier than Singapore, and experiencing lesser Covid-19 cases compared to the rest of the world, Malaysia exited it later than us.

In fact, the country has gone back into lockdown again (the relaxed one) which will last until the end of the year so don’t expect JB trips for food and shopping until 2021.

Why Fist Bumps?

Malaysia has it right when they said any physical contact carries with it a risk of infection.

So why, then, are people still doing it? The answer would probably be, habit.

If you’ve met anyone during this Covid-19 period for official business, you’ll quickly realise that starting things off without a handshake just feels awkward and rude.

After all, we’ve always been told that it’s polite to introduce yourself with a firm handshake.

As for fist bumps, people started adapting it during Covid-19 because it’s supposedly safer.

A 2014 study carried out in the UK showed that a fist bump transfers 10 times lesser germs than a handshake.

So if you still want to carry on fist-bumping people you meet, it might be a good idea to start carrying around a hand sanitiser with you.

After all, what gets you infected isn’t the virus getting onto your hands; it’s the virus getting onto your hands, and eventually into your body when you rub your eyes or dig your nose for gold.

Here’s a question: If we were to do away with fist bumps, what should it be replaced with? The elbow rub that was previously in trend?

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Boon Hun
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