The World Health Organisation last week recommended playing video games as a healthy way of physical distancing while maintaining social connection in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, there are many people who are not gamers or do not want to spend money on games.

So here are five free-to-play games - some with the option of in-app purchases - to consider as we stay home and wait out this wretched pandemic.

Available on PC

If you are a Star Wars fan, playing Star Wars: The Old Republic is a great way to kill time with some familiar galactic action.

This game is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, so it is best to get some friends on board. However, it is possible to play alone without teaming up with anyone to complete quests and level up.

You can choose between the path of a Jedi or a Sith. And, of course, expect to wield a lightsaber or two.

Available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One

PHOTO:ACTIVISION

Fancy a last-man-standing battle? Warzone offers that with its Battle Royale mode, in which each match can have up to 150 players - trumping the 100-player limit in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, one of the most popular games of this genre.

Warzone comes with the rich heritage of the Call Of Duty game franchise, and has both solo and team play options in its Battle Royale mode.

Its other main mode is the Blood Money mode, in which teams have to search for cash around a game map to accumulate as much money as possible. The team with the most money wins the game.

Available on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

PHOTO:VALVE

Sometimes old is gold. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive might be nearly eight years old, but there are still a lot of people playing the game. According to statistics from online video game retailer Steam, more than one million gamers played it concurrently on March 14.

Its longevity lies in its simplicity. This first-person shooter game pits two teams of five against each other.

One team, the Terrorists, needs to plant a bomb or defend hostages, while the other team, the Counter-Terrorists, needs to defuse the bomb or rescue hostages. Your team wins when the objectives are met or when you kill everyone in the opposing team.

Available on PC, Mac and Linux

PHOTO:UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

A game with a premise apt for these times, Foldit is a free puzzle game, developed by researchers at the University of Washington, about killing the coronavirus.

The game was first released in 2008. In 2011, Foldit players helped scientists solve a problem about decoding the Aids virus.

In this update of the game, you will be tasked with creating or modifying protein chains so they can bind to the coronavirus' distinct spike protein, thus preventing the latter from infecting human cells.

While it might sound like rocket science, the puzzle is simple. You just need to fold an existing protein into a new shape that potentially blocks the spike protein.

You earn points based on your protein's efficiency in blocking the spike protein. Download Foldit here.

Available on Android and iOS

PHOTO:ZYNGA

In this Scrabble-like multiplayer word game, players take turns to build words on a crossword puzzle-style board.

Each player has seven randomly generated letter tiles. These tiles will be replenished until all 104 tiles have been used. Players take turns to form words on the board and can choose to swop tiles with the pool of currently unused tiles, or skip a turn if they cannot form a word.

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5 free games to cure cabin fever as you wait out the Covid-19 pandemic - The Straits Times