Residents of Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital, are avoiding handshakes and bodily contact in public places following the outbreak of monkeypox viral diseases which has infected 13 people including a medical doctor.
NAN reports that many people at public functions on Thursday and Friday in Yenagoa kept their distances as well as avoided handshakes and hugs that characterised exchange of pleasantries at social functions.
Some people who spoke to NAN correspondent on the sideline of Thursday’s World Teachers Day celebration in Yenagoa said the precautionary measure was justified due to the anxiety created by the news of the dreaded disease on social media.
One Timi James said, “This issue of avoiding handshakes reminds one of the days of Ebola, which compelled everyone to heighten personal hygiene. The government even provided wash hand basins and hand sanitizers at public places, but where are those things today?
“That is how we are as a people; the Ebola outbreak did not teach us anything. So we are just avoiding each other like plague but what can we do?
“It is based on advice that we should wash hands frequently; and if my hand is clean, I would endanger myself by shaking hands with someone with unwashed hands,”.
Residents across the state capital have been circulating text messages on social media networks urging people to abstain from shaking hands due to the outbreak of the disease.
NAN
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