As part of a national Exercise Against Cancer campaign, the DOSB is highlighting how exercise can reduce the chances of getting colon cancer, one of the most common tumour diseases in Germany, by up to 30 per cent.

The DOSB’s Movement Against Cancer team is calling for sports clubs to be allowed to offer opportunities for exercise in a "responsible" way in line with coronavirus regulations.

"Sports clubs make an immense contribution to cancer prevention," said Andreas Silbersack, vice-president of popular sports and sports development at the DOSB. 

"Your members are set in motion, for example, with quality-assured health sports courses. 

"The Colon Cancer Month March brings us again to the special health benefits of sports clubs in mind.

"We have to get as many people as possible out of the currently prescribed immobility in a timely manner."

Research by the Robert Koch Institute has found that up to 26,590 women and 32,320 men develop the cancer every year.

Experts recommend either two and a half hours of moderate or 75 minutes of intense physical activity per week - or a combination of both can help reduce the risk of colon cancer.

There have been more than 2.6 million cases of coronavirus recorded in the country, with more than 74,000 fatalities reported.

Under the current coronavirus restrictions in Germany, individual sports alone or in pairs are permitted as reported by Deutschland.

Currently up to ten children up to the age of 14 can play sport outdoors in a group, although if an area has less than 50 new infections of the virus in a seven day period restrictions could be relaxed to enable non-contact sports to be played in small groups outdoors.