Coronavirus: Chinese man under lockdown runs 31 miles in his living room
A Chinese marathon runner under lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak has kept his spirits up by running 31 miles (50km) around his living room.
Pan Shancu from the city of Hangzhou completed 6,250 laps of track consisting of two large tables set up inside his apartment.
The amateur marathon runner said he “could not bear sitting down any more”, as he and many other people across China have been confined to their homes for weeks.
Pan posted proof of the feat on social media site Weibo last week, with video of his set up and screenshots from his running app that tracked his run.
The runner said each lap of his room was 8 metres, and he eventually completed more than six thousand in four hours, 48 minutes and 44 seconds.
“I have not been outside for many days, today I cannot bear sitting down any more!” he posted last week. “One lap is about 8m – I ran 50km, did it in 4:48:44, sweated all over, feels great!”
Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, was placed under lockdown on 5 February to limit the spread of the new coronavirus – now named by the World Health Organisation as Covid-19 – which first emerged in Wuhan in the Hubei province, 600km away.
In January, the Asian Athletics Association announced it would cancel its Indoor Championships, which were scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, due to the outbreak of the virus.
As of 12 February, there had been 159 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Hangzhou, and a total of 1,131 in the Zhejiang province.
More than 1,100 people have been confirmed as killed by the virus in China, while confirmed new cases rose by 1,696, which is a smaller increase than in previous days.