摘要：Since spring 2020, in response to the global threat of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several governments implemented emergency policies and regulations to prevent further transmission of the disease (Portegijs et al. 2021). Social distancing, isolation or lock-downs have been adopted to control the transmission and protect citizens. These regulations involve typically restricting the mobility of citizens and the closure of activity destinations. Although the measures could “flatten the curve” of new cases and minimize the infection rates, the restrictions have also had significant impacts on citizens’ health and well-being due to the amplification of the barriers to physical activity (PA). The impacts may be more obvious and impactful to vulnerable populations, namely, the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions and individuals with sedentary behaviors (Marashi et al. 2021). Evidence has shown that the decline in PA could represent an increased risk of developing functional limitations and daily living disabilities (Tak et al. 2013), chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (Hupin et al. 2015), obesity (Zbro ´nska and M ˛edrela-Kuder 2018), cognitive decline (Shah et al. 2017), dementia (Guure et al. 2017), depression (Schuch et al. 2018) and the rate of all-cause mortality (Hupin et al. 2015). In contrast, there are numerous benefits for improving PA, which have been thoroughly reported in previous studies. The level of and engagement in PA are also associated with the economy of a country, especially from the aspects of healthcare and medication. According to a previous report from Australia, almost 7% of Australia’s health burden was attributed to physical inactivity, with the main contributors being ischemic heart disease (51%), type 2 diabetes (20%) and stroke (14%) (Begg et al. 2007). The diseases usually occur in elderly adults. This indicates that elderly populations would be badly affected by COVID-19 but would also gain the most benefit from increased levels of PA. The increased PA levels would result in a decreased occurrence of the disease and facilitate a decline in future economic demands of healthcare and medication..
