NANJING -- A court in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, held an online judicial auction for a house on China's e-commerce platform Taobao to avoid large gatherings amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

A total of 14 potential buyers bid for the house, attracting 17,478 people to watch the auction online. After 79 rounds of bidding, the house was sold for 2.93 million yuan (about 418,000 U.S. dollars) at a premium rate of 40.87 percent, said Suzhou Industrial Park People's Court.

In order to avoid large gatherings amid the epidemic, the court, together with Taobao, integrated the online house inspection system with 360-degree virtual reality (VR) panoramas, which offer bidders a detailed look at the house, including its structure, interior decoration and position.

"Online auctions can help save time and service fees for bidders and minimize the risk of the virus spreading," said Yin Ming, the judge in charge of the auction. "So far, we have launched five houses on the platform for VR panorama inspections. We also plan to adopt this method to display more items during the epidemic."