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Just a few days ago, the word "caremongering" did not exist. Yet just three days later what started as a way to help vulnerable people in Toronto has turned into a movement spreading fast across Canada.

More than 35 Facebook groups have been set up in 72 hours to serve communities in places including Ottawa, Halifax and Annapolis County in Nova Scotia, with more than 30,000 members between them.

People are joining the groups to offer help to others within their communities, particularly those who are more at risk of health complications related to coronavirus.

The pandemic has led to acts of kindness around the world, from delivering soup to the elderly in the UK to an exercise class held for quarantined residents on their balconies in Spain.

But in Canada, a country whose inhabitants are stereotyped in the media as kind to a fault, helping others has become an organised movement called "caremongering".

As it's all driven by social media, the altruism is arranged online and the hashtags provide a permanent record of all the good happening in different communities across Canada - an uplifting read in anxious times.