New Delhi: With most of the world quarantined and practising social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic that has affected more than 190 countries across the world, singer Neil Diamond took to Twitter Sunday to send a message to people and cheer them up.
In a video, starring his pet dog, the American singer-songwriter and actor, who has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, said though times were tough with people practising social distancing and being quarantined, if everyone sang together, they might feel better.
Stay safe out there! “Hands… washing hands..” 🎶 pic.twitter.com/QaRB1qZshp
— Neil Diamond (@NeilDiamond) March 22, 2020
Diamond then began strumming his guitar and improvised the lyrics of his popular song Sweet Caroline (1969), by singing “Hands, washing hands. Reaching out. Don’t touch me and I won’t touch you.”
The original lyrics of the song are: “Hands, touching hands. Reaching out, touching me, touching you.”
Posted Sunday, the video has got nearly 5 million views on the microblogging site. While many thanked Diamond for the message, some even suggested an entire rewrite of the song, titled Sweet Quarantine.
Thank you Mr. Diamond. During this time, we can’t be physically touching hands, but we can “reaching out” to one another virtually.
The silver lining in this temporary national and global challenge, is it will remind us we are radically dependent on one another.
— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) March 22, 2020
https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch/status/1241798009802960901
Coronavirus pandemic
The novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, which first originated in China’s Wuhan city in December 2019, has now spread to more than 190 countries across the world and infected more than 3.9 lakh people, reporting over 17,000 deaths worldwide.
In India, the total number of coronavirus cases has crossed 450, with 10 deaths having been reported so far. With the number of cases doubling in the last three days, states across the country have gone into lockdown, with people self-isolating and practising social distancing.
Clear progression in number of #COVID19 cases in India.
India reports total of 415 positive cases as on 23 March, 10:00 AM. On March 20, India had 206 cases.
Numbers have doubled in the last 3 days. @ThePrintIndia pic.twitter.com/SYuygBEhfF
— Himani Chandna (@ChandnaHimani) March 23, 2020
Also read: Italy doctors’ plea to world: Treat more COVID-19 patients from home to contain virus spread