9th September, 2020
By Abankula
A task force set up to ensure compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols has punished violators by ordering them to sit in coffins inside a hearse.
The Probolinggo COVID-19 task force took the unusually weird measure in East Java, according to a report by Jakarta Post.
It ordered dozens of people at Maron Market to get into a hearse containing a casket used for transporting COVID-19 patients’ bodies.
The violators punished were those caught not wearing a mask.
Some 50 sellers and customers took turns to stay in the ambulance for several minutes on Monday as a social punishment.
“We punished 50 sellers and customers at Maron Market by making them stay in a hearse,” the task force’s security and law enforcement coordinator, Ugas Irwanto, told said.
Prior to entering the hearse, the task force gave the violators face masks.
Inside the hearse, Ugas added, violators were asked to reflect on their actions.
The task force also reminded them how the COVID-19 pandemic had taken a lot of lives.
Indonesia is in the grip of the virus epidemic with 200,035 cases and 8,230 deaths, as at Wednesday.