UN body promotes workouts on international sports day

A UN agency on Monday encouraged people to do workouts in their homes as part of the international sports day being marked today.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Turkey released a video on Twitter showing many sportspeople calling on public to be active in their homes socially and physically in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkish women's national volleyball team coach from Italy, Giovanni Guidetti and his wife Bahar Toksoy Guidetti, Turkish diver Şahika Ercümen, football players Nuri Şahin and Yusuf Yazıcı and basketball player Sinan Güler were among sportspeople featured in the video to raise public awareness against the COVID-19.

"Sports have the power to change the world. On this International Day of Sport for Development and Peace we invite everyone to stay healthy and stay at home and maintain the team spirit," said Claudio Tomasi, a UNDP representative in Turkey.

On April 6, UN commemorates the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace to promote global peace and humanitarian values such as friendship, equality and unity as well as solidarity since sports are believed to be a universal language, which build bridges and remove barriers.

The global death toll from coronavirus crossed 70,000 on Monday, according to figures compiled by the U.S.' Johns Hopkins University.

Since emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the COVID-19 disease has spread to at least 183 countries and regions around the globe, while confirmed cases have climbed to nearly 1.3 million.