Two pairs of chopsticks in different colors are provided to customers in a Beijing restaurant, with one pair used as serving chopsticks. Photo: Li Lei/GT

Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei Province and formerly the most affected domestic region for the COVID-19 pandemic, launched a campaign to promote separated eating along with service in restaurants, schools, and companies to prevent the virus from spreading and to safeguard public health. 

Local authorities will choose 100 hotels, restaurants, and institutes who effectively promote the new dining conditions and services. The campaign is aimed at increasing separated dining awareness by 60 percent, local media reported. 

The campaign is also aimed at cultivating scientific and healthy dining habits to reduce and prevent the spread of the disease on dining tables and to protect public health, the report said, citing local officials.  

Wuhan is not the only city to promote separated eating since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar regulations were implemented in East China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Authorities in Quzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, released regulations in May requiring restaurants to offer serving chopsticks and spoons. One restaurant was fined 50 yuan after local authorities found they failed to do so, marking the first case of its kind nationwide. 

Authorities in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, released the new terms on using serving chopsticks and spoons in early March.  

"Separated dining can help to prevent diseases from spreading, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to promote as Chinese people's eating habit has been sharing for thousands of years," said Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist from Wuhan University to the Global Times on Thursday. 

Netizens echoed Yang's comments and said that authorities have tried to promote separated dining for years, but getting the Chinese to change their dining habits has been problematic. 

Others doubted how the new habit would prevent infectious diseases from spreading as Western countries like the US and Italy have suffered during the pandemic. 

By Thursday, the number of COVID-19 cases in the US surpassed 1.8 million, while  China had less than 90,000. 

But others have applauded the campaign as it would help prevent cross infections on dining tables.

"This time, the epidemic really changes Chinese people's health habits," said a Weibo user.