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By Reuters
YAKARTA – Every day in Jakarta at nine in the morning, local government official Ricky Mulyana and 3 colleagues put on the full non-public protective equipment, carry a coffin on their shoulders and go on a funeral procession through the bustling streets of the city.
The coffin, wrapped in plastic, just an effigy. But as Indonesia struggles to involve an outbreak of coronavirus cases, the government is looking for surprise tactics to get public attention and spread critical fitness messages in a country with the highest number of virus deaths in Southeast Asia.
“It’s a grueling task because other people don’t perceive the danger of COVID-19 disease,” Mulyana said in a coffin procession along a street in southern Jakarta in the Cilandak region, an expanding suburb with shopping malls and slums and poorer.
Other officials held symptoms and used loudspeakers to urge citizens to stick to fitness protocols, adding disguised and social esttachment.
The alarming trick is part of a chain deployed amid a desperate number of cases: Indonesia on Thursday recorded a record spike in coronavirus infections and now has more than 180,000 cases and at least 7750 deaths. Jakarta has been the epicentre of the epidemic in Indonesia. accounts for about a quarter of cases in the fourth most populous country in the world.
Elsewhere, tactics used to raise awareness of the virus have even included deploying a “ghost” organization to patrol the streets of a Javan village, hoping that a century-old superstition will keep others inside.
“Until now, other people are not yet aware that wearing a mask is very important,” said Mulyana, who said she hoped that seeing a coffin would make others aware of the danger of the disease.
Some citizens they saw said the coffin parade can simply convey the message.
“Now other people can perceive (the consequence). Without this (initiative), other people will break the rules,” said Masno, 74, who uses only one name.
The procession started last week and is expected to last two weeks until September 10.
“We hope that this will frighten the public and increase their awareness, and that the rest of the people of Jakarta will be receptive,” said Encu Suhani, deputy chief of Cilandak’s local government.
(Written through Ed Davies; Edited through Kenneth Maxwell)
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