Chinese trend of dancing to thank healthcare workers backfires as cases rise

The latest trend in China, where people dance in front of healthcare workers, is not going so well.

Though the gesture was meant to express gratitude for healthcare workers’ contribution to Covid measures, the dancers are instead contributing to an increase in the number of cases.

Several videos have surfaced in recent times of people dancing in front of medical workers in hazmat suits even as Beijing pushes for massive testing across cities to curb the spread of the virus. On Tuesday, China reported 20,472 cases of Covid-positive cases, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.

Authorities in China have sent more than 10,000 health workers, including 2,000 from the military, from around the country to Shanghai, as it scrambles to keep out the rapidly spreading outbreak under its zero-Covid strategy.

But the dancers are proving to be a disruption to healthcare workers, who are forced to stop during their busy workday and watch the “gratitude” dances.

Many workers have complained that the dances were a waste of their time.

“They might mean well, but this is wasting our time. It would be impolite of us to stop them, but we are very busy. We just want to finish our job as soon as possible and go home,” Tang Xuan, a nurse from Shanghai told the South China Morning Post.

She added: “To me, the best way to express gratitude is to prepare for the test in advance, like getting their QR codes ready and cleaning their mouths, and leave as quickly as they can after the sample collection.”

Several police officers who are stationed outside quarantine facilities are also being bothered by these dancers, with some even describing it as “troublesome”.

On Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, where several videos of dances have gone viral, commentators have criticised the performances.

In one video, a primary school girl can be seen singing and dancing in front of a few workers in hazmat suits, before she bows down to them to say thanks.

Many called it a publicity stunt. One person said: “I think it is 99 per cent likely that she danced because her school made her, because my niece went dancing too, and her parents had to take photos to prove to the teachers that they went.”

Others commented that the workers looked as if they were receiving “corporal punishment”.

One person pointed out that singing and dancing can be dangerous “as you need to breathe harder”.

Another user said: “We haven’t eliminated Covid-19 entirely yet, but it seems like a new brain disease has taken hold.”

“If these parents really cared about the well-being of anti-epidemic workers, they should not let their children get in the way of important testing efforts. Let medical workers finish work early and rest properly,” another Weibo user commented.

Recently, a healthcare worker said in a video that has since gone viral: “I implore you not to let your children perform for us. The kids are good kids but the parents need to put their mind to something else.”

Internet personality Jiangning Popo — with five million followers on Weibo and who is a healthcare worker in Nanjing— wrote: “If you really want to make our job easier, just be cooperative and read testing instructions carefully before you come. It will save us a lot of time if all of you remember to bring your phone, have your health code ready, and clean your mouth when you meet us.”