Coronavirus Quarantine Breakers Locked Away In 'Haunted Houses' In Indonesia

When people won't adhere to the hugely important science-led social distancing measures imposed upon them, what do you do? That's right, you lock them away in 'haunted houses'.

Or at least that's what they're doing in a region of Indonesia as a means of deterring locals from flouting lockdown measures.

Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati, regency head of Sragen, issued the unorthodox orders earlier this week in a hope that the threat would act as a deterrent to the superstitious population.

After all, quarantine in your own home is vastly preferable to quarantine in a haunted house, I'm sure we can all agree.

ANWAR MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images

This is not just an idle threat though, with five quarantine rule breakers already having been locked up in 'haunted houses' on the island of Java.

The measures were introduced amid a surge of newcomers to the region from other locked-down parts of the country, including Jakarta.

According to the Tribun Jateng, Yuni Sukowati said: "If they disobey self-isolation [orders], several villages have asked for my permission to quarantine them in an abandoned elementary school or abandoned houses.

"I gave my permission. If need be, they should be locked inside - in a haunted house if necessary. But we'd still feed them and monitor them."

She made it clear that this wasn't an empty threat - as two people in the village of Plupuh found out the hard way.

PA

She said: "Two Plupuh residents agreed to self-isolate but they violated the order. So they were locked inside an abandoned haunted house. Had they obeyed their order they wouldn't have been locked in there."

She went on to add that the houses in question were located in the middle of a rice paddy and were 'known' to be haunted by locals. She didn't, however, reveal how long they would have to be quarantined in there.

Another abandoned home in the village of Sepat was fitted with beds to house three new arrivals, one of whom was Henri Susanto, who told AFP that he hadn't seen any ghosts yet.

He said: "But whatever happens, happens. I know this is for everyone's safety. Lesson learned."

Indonesia has recorded a total of 7,418 cases of Covid-19 and has a death toll of 635.

Topics: indonesia, World News, Coronavirus

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey