India's Strict Lockdown Rules Make Tourists Forced To Hide In Caves

JAKARTA - As many as five tourists, were forced to hide in a cave in India for almost a month. Because the Indian government enforces lockdown rules when they are all on vacation.

Reporting from CNN, a group of tourists were forced to live in a cave near Rishikesh, a city in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. This city became famous among foreign tourists, since The Beatles did yoga and meditated there.

Almost a month, they hid in a cave. Until finally the police found the tourist group to be quarantined for several days to ensure that none of them had contracted COVID-19.

"They have been living in the cave since March 24, the police found them on Sunday and moved them to the Swarg Ashram near Rishikesh, we have asked them to self-quarantine for two weeks as a precaution, but they appear to be healthy," said Uttarakhand police spokesman, Mukesh Chand.

The tourists, consisting of four men and two women from France, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States and Nepal, initially stayed in a hotel. But on the way, they ran out of money and finally decided to settle in a cave.

This group of tourists survived by using the rest of their money to buy food and other necessities, while surviving in the cave. In fact, both foreign and local tourists have been banned from entering Uttarakhand state since March 20 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Previously, several foreign tourists also received punishment from the Indian police for not complying with the lockdown rules. Launching from Channelnewsasia, They have to serve a sentence by writing "I did not follow the rules of lockdown so I am so sorry" or "I didn't follow the lockdown rules, so I'm sorry" 500 times on paper.

India is the second most populous country in the world, and has excessive concern about its country's health system which is deemed incapable of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially with the many citizens with underprivileged economies who have to be laid off, since Prime Minister (PM) of India Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown, since last March 24.

Indian police are also known to be fierce in implementing these rules very strictly. They did not hesitate to beat the residents with bamboo sticks to those who were still stubborn when they left the house.

India has also extended the implementation of a lockdown policy, which was supposed to end in April, to May 3, 2020. Residents are only allowed to leave their homes to buy basic necessities and medicines.

According to data from World O Meter, there were more than 18,658 cases of positive COVID-19 patients in India, with the death toll reaching 592 cases.