The cessation of all Park Runs across the world is the grass-roots equivalent of the Premier League, The Masters and Grand National shutting down. Our panic now is not ‘what can we watch’ but ‘what can we do’ to keep mind and body going.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Boris Johnson said: “The British people understand what they need to do to beat this virus.” This is not true across many areas of sport and leisure. In children’s sport many parents are confused about how much contact is permissible in pursuit of outdoor games and exercise.

Stopping Park Runs - the most successful mass participation event of our times - is the biggest sign yet that sporting activity is heading to a point where the British will have to find ways of exercising alone, or in small groups, metres apart.

Country runs, long walks or swimming in chlorinated pools may continue to fall outside the tightest restrictions, when they come, unless they stretch to curfews, with dog walkers allowed only short neighbourhood strolls, as in parts of Spain.

Large-scale football and rugby for example were bound to fall foul of the government’s growing push for social distancing. In the last few days we have seen all grass-roots and community football, rugby and cricket called off as well. With all UK schools on the verge of closure, parents can forget about children receiving healthy doses of physical activity in educational establishments.

This huge challenge to the health of the nation requires answers: new ways of keeping outdoor exercise alive at a time when mental health will be under strain from enforced confinement.

Tthis couple in Maryland have been streaming Facebook live videos of their jiu-jitsu sessions to keep their clients active while their gym is closed credit: GETTY IMAGES

Solutions are not at hand - but they need to be, starting with detailed guidance from the government’s scientists on what can, and cannot, be pursued in the name of sport and exercise. Those videos of Italians batting balls from apartment window to apartment window might start a cult of improvisation in the face of what feel like wartime prohibitions.

Confusion is undeniably shaping public responses - and not just in the UK. The ambiguity around going to pubs and restaurants now extends to physical exercise. The government wants us to stop visiting bars and eateries but is not yet shutting them down, which puts personal choice, not Whitehall edict, in the driving seat.

The same grey areas are apparent in Australia, where a professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales has said it is right to stop children playing sport. Raina MacIntyre told the country’s ABC network: "Because children are more likely to be asymptomatically infected, we really should be cautious about how much contact we should allow.”

Each sport is making its own decisions in the light of the government’s ban on mass gatherings and a wider understanding of infection risk. Rugby said all levels of the game have been shut down “in the interests of players, coaches, referees, volunteers, supporters and the wider rugby union community,” adding: “Where possible, players at all levels are encouraged to maintain their own personal fitness and keep active during this time, while following government guidelines about safe distance and safe exercise environments.”

This is where the confusion deepens: inevitably, perhaps, because we are on uncharted ground. What does “keep active” really mean? People who are in tight queues in supermarkets are being told a Park Run is dangerous. Drinkers in busy pubs are denied the chance to play pub football in front of three people and a dog. Much of this is contradictory, but clear in its direction. Soon, individuals and families will be left to find safe, socially-distanced forms of exercise, which is harder in urban areas.

The British public are still willing to visit packed supermarkets and pubs credit: SHUTTERSTOCK

Shafts of light are rare, but Swim England tell us, via the ‘Pool Water Treatment and Advisory Group’: “Public health opinion is that it is generally safe to go swimming at this time. Water and the chlorine within swimming pools will help to kill the virus. However, visitors to swimming pools are reminded to shower before using the pool, to shower on leaving the pool and to follow the necessary hygiene precautions when visiting public places to help reduce the risk of infection.”

My local track and field club, Brighton Phoenix, has shut down all activities, telling members: “It cannot be right that we do something that increases the risk of virus transmission.” The Park Run news is the most seismic of all for grass roots athletes. Staged in the UK since 2004 at 715 locations, Park Runs have attracted 2.4 million runners to 34.9m runs over 174m kilometres. All those people can still queue in Tesco or go to a crowded pub (for now).

The National Trust has better news. A spokeswoman says: “While we will close our indoor areas to help fight the spread of coronavirus, we recognise that people are likely to need access to open space.” For more rigorous activities, an old line has been tweaked: “You can’t run, but you can hide.” The race to find safe new ways of exercising starts here.