Fed up with people constantly neglecting self-isolation and quarantine rules, a local politician on Indonesia’s Java Island decided to lock rule breakers in a haunted house to set an example for others.

Kusdinar Untung Yuni Sukowati, the head of Sragen regency came up with the idea of taping into the locals’ fear of ghosts as a way to deal with an influx of newcomers in the area. Because of lockdowns in the capital Jakarta and other major cities, Sragen has started seeing quite a lot of people coming in, many of whom completely disregard the rule to self-isolate themselves for 14 days, in case they are infected with the novel coronavirus. To make sure people started respecting the rules, Kusdinar started putting offenders in abandoned houses locals believe are haunted.

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A luckless Chinese man who reportedly spent almost two months in his home after being quarantined three times in a row became a trending topic on Chinese social media this week.

Mr Xiong, from the city of Jining, in East China’s Shandong Province, spent almost the whole month of February and half of March cooped up in his home in an unlucky triple quarantine that the media hilariously dubbed “buy one, get two free”. The first time Xiong was confined to his apartment was when Jining went into lockdown on February 8th, two days after returning from the Philippines. He was forbidden from leaving his home for 14 days, which was tough, but not as tough as spending 50 days inside…

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In an effort to prove that been confined or quarantined indoors during the coronavirus pandemic is no excuse for neglecting daily exercise, a Spanish athlete recently spent ten hours running a 61-kilometer marathon in the comfort of his own home.

Like the vast majority of people in his country and much of Europe, Javier Castroverde, a 41-year-old triathlete from the Spanish region of Galicia, has been spending his days indoors, as part of a social distancing effort to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus. However, instead of binging on Netflix, napping and going on social media, he has been busy keeping in shape. Despite being confined to a relatively small apartment, Castroverde was able to run the equivalent of a 61-km marathon in about 10 hours. He shared the data recorded by a smartphone app and dedicated his feat to the health professionals risking their lives to help others.

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