Despite Tamil Nadu having a large number of coronavirus cases, not all people in the state are adhering to the lockdown directives. Several people have been stepping out for casually strolling other than procuring groceries or medicines or other essential items.
However, the Tiruppur Police have now decided to act strictly against such violators and teach them a lesson. In a video that has been doing the rounds on the internet, the Tiruppur Police department is trying to raise awareness about the novel coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 23,000 people in India and left 700 dead.
This is the most recent incident that has come to fore. The clip, which was shared by a page on Facebook, has received over 38,000 likes, more than 2,000 comments, and was viewed over 1.5 million times.
What the video shows
We can see the police officials halting three men who were taking a bike as they violated the lockdown norms. On top of that, they were also roaming around the city without face masks. The officers then decided to put them inside an ambulance that has a man who pretended to be infected by the coronavirus. The men were so scared that they begged the officers to let them out of the van.
Meanwhile, this video has a message at the end, which says, "When you roam around, anyone can have the novel coronavirus and you may not know. The government and the police officials have been stressing on the importance of staying indoors. If at all you need to come out to buy essentials, please wear masks."
Style of enactment
However, the police officer clarified that the video is an enactment and there were no real lockdown violators in the video.
Meanwhile...
The Tiruppur Police's decision to put the three men inside an ambulance with an 'infected' coronavirus patient has received mixed responses.
"The #Tiruppur Police comes up with an innovative way to teach these youth a lesson they'll never forget!Face with tears of joyFace with tears of joy #coronavirus #COVID #TNFightsCorona #CoronavirusIndia," read a tweet.
Another tweet read, "Tiruppur Police catches #COVIDIOTS who don't follow lockdown strictly and lock them up with a Covid19 patient in an ambulance Face with tears of joyFace with tears of joyFace with tears of joy."
A renowned journalist also took to Twitter asking, "Was this ambulance being used to transport Covid-19 patients?"
"Doctor turned IAS officer should say this is sadism and these uniformed officers need treatment," another tweet read.
54 new Covid-19 cases reported in Tamil Nadu
As many as 54 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Tamil Nadu today, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as of 8 am. This brings the total reported cases of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the state to 1,683. 752 people have recovered and 20 people have died due to the deadly virus.