World health authorities have begun instructing residents to limit contact with their fellow residents as the coronavirus epidemic continues to ensnare all corners of the world.

Even back home, Australians were instructed to cease shaking hands and instead give themselves a “pat on the back” by the NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard, after the state recorded its first person-to-person transmission on Monday.

With hands-free salutations now in vogue amid the outbreak, it has prompted some to come up with ingenious ways of greeting each other while avoiding any potential infection.

Enter Wuhan, and its residents’ new invention: The Wuhan Shake.

https://twitter.com/V_actually/status/1233785527788285953

A video of the greeting, which also doubles as a fleet-footed dance move, went viral on social media over the weekend, showing a mask-wearing man eschewing a handshake for a little tap of the feet.

The new-found way of saying hello has now been viewed more than 46,000 times, and won plenty of plaudits.

“Love this,” one Twitter user wrote.

“Be prepared for a mass outbreak of athlete’s foot! Gonna call it OldFeet-19,” said another.

The Wuhan Shake’s emergence comes as public health officials encourage global citizens to use non-contact handshake alternatives.

Dr Sylvie Briand, the director of the Department of Pandemic and Epidemic diseases at the World Health Organisation, said we must “adapt to this new disease”.

We need to adapt to this new disease #COVID19 https://t.co/SiCL6dX2dQ

— Dr Sylvie Briand (@SCBriand) March 1, 2020

More than 90,000 people have now been infected with the potentially fatal respiratory disease, including 31 Australians, with the death toll sitting slightly above 3100.