How you can still have a Houseparty in coronavirus lockdown times

Old school house parties may be a no-go these days in the age of coronavirus lockdowns.

But even while staying home to do our bit to flatten the curve, there is a way to party and drink with friends – virtually.

Apps such as Houseparty and Zoom have grown in popularity in the past few weeks as millions look for inventive new ways to socialise while still observing social distancing.

READ MORE: Latest on Australia's COVID-19 situation - the shops set to shut

Houseparty is a free app available to download, which is like FaceTime en-mass and allows you to chat with up to eight people at once.

You can use it to host trivia nights with friends, share a vino or even play video games together within the app.

While Zoom, originally designed as a video conferencing tool, has also been used for house party vibes and bigger gatherings with the free app able to host up to 100 participants at once.

And for those wanting to Netflix and chill with friends can grab the Google Chrome extension to stream movies in unison and share your "OMG!" moments.

Meanwhile, Instagram has rolled out a new feature called "co-watching".

To launch the feature, users need to start a video chat and then they should see a photo icon in the bottom left corner of the screen and if you tap on that the posts you've recently liked will populate and you can choose which ones you want to share with your friends in the chat.

Although at this stage, this is only available in the US but the company hopes to roll out the feature across other countries.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

What is social distancing?

Social distancing involved minimising contact with people and maintaining a distance of over one metre between you and others.

When practicing social distancing, you should avoid public transport, limit non-essential travel, work from home and skip large gatherings.

It is okay to go outdoors. However, when you do leave home, avoid touching your face and frequently wash your hands.

If I'm young and healthy, do I still have to practice social distancing?

Yes. While older people are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, young people are not immune. People that show mild or no symptoms may still pass the virus to others, particularly in the early stages of the infection, before many patients realise that they are sick.