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Premier League ditches pre-match handshakes over coronavirus fears
The English Premier League has announced that pre-match fair-play handshakes between teams and officials will not take place until further notice.
This is a measure taken to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, following British government’s demand for the league “to step up its contingency planning.”
The teams, however, will still line up as usual but the home team will walk past the away side without shaking hands.
Read Also: Tokyo 2020 Olympics ‘could be postponed to end of year’ because of coronavirus
“The Premier League fair-play handshake will not take place between players and match officials from this weekend until further notice based on medical advice,” a statement reads.
“Coronavirus is spread via droplets from the nose and mouth and can be transmitted on to the hands and passed on via a handshake.”
Meanwhile, Premier League leaders Liverpool announced earlier on Thursday that they would not be having mascots at Anfield.
There have been more than 90,000 cases of the virus, which originated in Wuhan China, but now present in 87 countries.
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