Netanyahu encourages Israelis to adopt ‘Namaste’ to greet amid Coronavirus scare

PTI, Mar 5, 2020, 10:32 AM IST

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday encouraged his countrymen to adopt ‘Namaste’, the Indian way of greeting instead of the normal handshakes as one of the measures to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

At a press conference following a review meeting to contain the Coronavirus here, Netanyahu said that several measures will be announced to prevent the spread of Coronavirus but some simple measures like avoiding the normal handshake while greeting people may possibly be replaced with other forms of greetings like the Indian ‘Namaste’.

He also demonstrated at the press conference as to how the Indians do ‘Namaste’ while greeting people.

Netanyahu said that “we are in the middle of a global epidemic”, but Israel has done well as it was quick in taking action to prevent the spread of the virus in the country.

“We have had to take rigorous steps to slow the spread of the disease in Israel, we have taken select isolation and flight policies and measures for flights,” he added.