Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the city of Wuhan in China, at least 16 cities in China have been placed under lockdown to contain the virus.

People trying to stay indoors as much as possible

Residents in Wuhan have also been advised to stay indoors.

Some Chinese residents elsewhere have limited their time outdoors and in public places as well, choosing to stay at home where the chances of getting infected are lower.

Confined to their homes with limited activities to occupy their time with, Chinese netizens have found ways to inject humour into a situation that has been getting more dreary by the day.

Seeing humour

A Saturday, Jan. 26 post by Phoenix New Media on microblogging platform Weibo that featured a man slumped on a couch and looking dazed, with the caption "Contributing to the society just by lying around at home and not doing anything!" elicited several responses from commenters.

The meme was a popular one in China which featured a scene from a 1993 comedy where actor Ge You was slumped on a couch.

Doing something by doing nothing

Commenters joked that they were indeed contributing to the nation just by staying at home and doing nothing.

According to their profiles, they were mostly located in other parts of China, such as the Chongqing Municipality, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, and not Hubei Province, where 39 of the 41 deaths have occurred so far, with the other two were in the Hebei and Heilongjiang provinces.

Here are some of their comments.

"Can y'all give me something to do. I'm alright even with just sewing a face mask."

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"I'll fight anyone who says I'm not making any contribution to the nation."

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"An otaku like me is finally doing something for the nation."

"I've already lied around for five days."

Reply: "Sleep more while you can, your hair can grow quite a bit. Speaking from personal experience."

Reply: "I was sitting at the living room, and my mum asked me to go lie on my bed as it's more comfortable."

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"Seems like we are contributing to the nation at every moment!"

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"I've not left my home since I came back. I can really sleep with a peace of mind this time, fiddle with my phone, and not take a step out."

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"I'm telling my family off. If anyone still dares to eat or sell wild animals, I'll puke out of anger, seriously."

More on the coronavirus outbreak:

Top image via Weibo