Indian Police Officer Wears Coronavirus Helmet to Catch People Who Break Lockdown Measures

As a wise man once said, “You can ask a human to stay indoors during a pandemic, but many won’t because humans are dumb”.

With more and more countries imposing lockdowns, many are asking the same question: how the hell do we enforce it?

In Italy, those who do not obey the country’s lockdown orders will face either fines or criminal charges.

But one Indian officer has a rather creative solution to keep people indoors: scaring the hell out of them.

Indian Police Officer Wears Coronavirus Helmet to Catch People Who Break Lockdown Measures

On 24 March, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting the movement of 1.3 billion people to curb the spread of Covid-19.

But, just like any other country, India has a few rebels that just can’t keep themselves indoors.

To drive these rebels back home, one Indian officer has started wearing a coronavirus helmet.

Now, you’re probably wondering what the heck a coronavirus helmet is, and may even be picturing the ones some officers in China are wearing that can detect if people have a fever.

But this is something very different, something out of your worst nightmare.

*shivers*

Yes, it actually looks like the coronavirus.

The officer above is Rajesh Babu, a police inspector patrolling the streets of Chennai, the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Raju teamed up with a local artist named Gowtham who made the grotesque-looking helmet.

Gowtham felt like people weren’t taking the pandemic seriously enough, and reasoned that it was because the virus was an invisible threat.

If I came across this coronavirus man while driving you can bet your cousin’s Netflix subscription that I’d immediately drive home as quickly as possible. 

Gowtham couldn’t use his usual art supplies to make the helmet because all the stores were closed, so he improvised by using newspapers and tissue paper to create the helmet.

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The helmet is covered in red spikes with bulbs on the end, just like the microscopic image of the coronavirus.

The artist told Rajesh about his idea and the officer loved it.

Now, Rajesh stops people in cars or motorcycles while wearing the helmet, especially when he sees them not wearing face masks.

He then tells them about the importance of social distancing and urges them not to go outside for nonessential reasons.

Dressed as the coronavirus, he would say: “If you come out, I will come in.”

Gowtham said the helmet has been well received, with many commuters thanking Rajesh for the information and agreeing to stay home.

Though I think they just had to rush home to change their pants.

The situation in India

India currently has 1,251 Covid-19 infections, and 32 people have died from the disease so far.

All shops, factories, offices, markets, religious spaces and construction sites have been closed, while only essential services including health, grocery or firefighting services, among others, remain in operation.

The Indian government on Monday (30 March) said that the country has no plans to extend their 21-day lockdown, rejecting reports that a prolonged closure was likely.

The Prime Minister also apologised for any inconvenience caused by the lockdown, saying it was a drastic but necessary measure:

“I understand your troubles but there was no other way to wage a war against corona for a country like India with a population of 1.3 billion,” he said. “It is a battle of life and death and we have to win it. Therefore, such strong measures were absolutely necessary.”