Ambulance workers spark outrage after shocking video appearing to dance with 'Covid-19 corpse'

A viral video of pallbearers in Ghana has inspired a huge wave of copycats.

But ambulance workers in the UK were recently criticised after imitating the orignal viral video, which was posted in 2017 but has recently become a meme during the coronavirus crisis.

In the original video, a group of five men in black uniforms bounce what looks like a coffin up and down and dance to what seems like an EDM song.

A group of four ambulance workers, from the North West Ambulance Services, posted a video of them imitating the dance – with some twists – on TikTok last week, which sparked a wave of criticism.

At the beginning of the video, a man coughs in the back of an ambulance while an ambulance worker puts a mask on, and music begins as the ambulance workers dance. They have a CPR dummy on a stretcher – at one point, they high five over it – and bounce it up and down as they walk out of shot.

The video was captioned “Caution. Morale boost imminent #COVID19 #coffindance #nhs”, according to the Liverpool Echo. The video had apparently been watched over 40,000 times before it was removed.

Some people on social media seemed to be shocked at the references that the video’s caption made to Covid-19 – they thought it was making light of the situation, while others pointed out that it was harmless fun for essential workers who needed some way to blow off steam.

The NWA service has since spoken about the video and clarified that the staff involved didn’t mean to cause offense, but that they were sorry and that the video has been removed as it breached social media policy.