The coronavirus pandemic is expected to change our lives in many different ways – more of us will probably work from home; we might take more care washing our hands and we may even change our eating habits, as CGTN's Zheng Chunying explains.

This place used to be bustling every afternoon. However, Da Dong restaurant – one of Beijing's most popular high-end dining spots – is seeing far fewer customers since it resumed business a few days ago. People are still a little hesitant to return, still concerned about contracting the virus despite noble efforts by the owners to make the eating environment safer.

ZHENG CHUNYING "Unlike the traditional ways, where diners use their own chopsticks to fish out what they want from the shared dishes, now the restaurant provides gong kuai, or serving chopsticks for each dish, and we use them to transfer what we want to our own plates, in the hope it'll minimize the chance of cross infection."

And it seems the initiative is being well received.

LI YANGFANG Deputy general manager Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant "As our restaurant is a high-end one, our customers accept the rules of using the serving spoons or chopsticks. They are aware that it's good for their health."

And the restaurant is not alone in pushing such guidelines. In fact, there's been a nationwide campaign to get more people using serving chopsticks and spoons over the past month. For instance, shopping malls in Shanghai Pudong New Area are even offering diners free parking if they agree to do it. However, there are others who believe it could be causing more harm than good at least on a psychological level.

FANG KAICONG CUSTOMER "It's hard to convince the older generation, like my grandparents to adopt the use of serving chopsticks, they feel it's creating distance between us."

Nevertheless, most people do recognise the benefits of a safer eating environment. In an online poll, when asked "do you think serving chopsticks are necessary? Only four percent of respondents said they wouldn't use them.

For those who find it hard to accept the concept of using serving utensils, here's what one expert has to say.

Some good will no doubt spring from this coronavirus pandemic, it could be we'll start seeing people making more changes for the sake of their own health and well-being and that of others. ZCY, CGTN, BEIJING.