Police in the Philippines install a coffin at checkpoint during Covid-19 pandemic
Police in the Philippines install a coffin at checkpoint during Covid-19 pandemic

Local police in the Philippine town of Pampagna kitted out one of their checkpoints with a coffin to use as a visual aid in their efforts to urge people to stay at home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

A message reading "stay home or stay inside" was displayed on the coffin with the aim of warning people that if they did not respect the current quarantine they were risking lives, including their own.

Chief of police at St Tomas Municipal Police Station, Police Major Nestor Bulatao, said the virus was "not to be taken lightly" and officers had exhausted other ways of getting that message across.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte placed the northern third of the country under an "enhanced community quarantine" that requires millions of people to stay at home in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.