Ding, the cooking vessel in the shape of a tripod. [Photo provided to China Daily]

When compilers of those annual lists of new words and expressions come out with their latest effort at the end of this year, can there be any doubt that among them will be the term social distancing?

As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded in dozens of country's over the past few weeks governments battling to stop the virus in its tracks have urged their citizens to take extraordinary steps to protect themselves and their compatriots, and social distancing has been near the top of the measures adopted and enforced.