Residents in some Indonesian villages are dressing up as ghosts to scare people into following social distancing measures during the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

On the island of Java, locals are dressing up as pocong — shroud ghosts of Indonesian legend — to spook locals into staying home. Throughout hamlets and villages, residents volunteer to partake in pocong patrols, in which they wear white sheets and makeup while enforcing social distancing measures at night.

The pocong guards monitor guests entering the community, ensuring residents obey the government’s restrictions on social gatherings. In Kesongo — a hamlet of Kepuh village in Central Java — the pocong stand by the community entrance gate from 8 p.m. to midnight every night, conducting an ID check on each person entering the hamlet and inquiring about the purpose of their visit.

The pocong guards were deployed on the initiative of residents to prevent a greater coronavirus outbreak in the area, Karno Supadmo, the head of Kesongo’s neighborhood unit, told the Jakarta Post this month.

Communities like Kesongo have decided to take coronavirus social distancing measures into their own hands — imposing patrols, lockdowns, and restricting movement in and out of their village — because Indonesia’s central government has yet to enforce a national lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo (known as Jokowi) has refused to quarantine the capital, Jakarta, despite the governor’s calls for a lockdown. Jakarta is located on the island of Java, the world’s most populous island and home to 141 million people. Jokowi said the central government will pursue a policy of “large-scale social restrictions” and physical distancing measures, instead of enacting more restrictive quarantines.

Jakarta’s request for a quarantine has fueled fears that Indonesia’s death toll is higher than the official figure of 459. Indonesia currently has the highest coronavirus death rate in Asia outside of China.

On Sunday, Indonesia reported 399 new cases, its largest daily spike so far. On Monday, the country reported 316 new cases. The surge in cases may be due to people not being “disciplined” to “stay at home,” a senior Indonesian health official told the South China Morning Post on Monday, echoing the opinion of those supporting the pocong patrol, like Kepuh village leader Priyadi.

“Residents still lack awareness about how to curb the spread of COVID-19 [Wuhan coronavirus],” Priyadi told Reuters on Monday. “They want to live like normal, so it is very difficult for them to follow the instruction to stay at home.”

At press time on Tuesday, Indonesia had officially reported 4,839 infections and 459 deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus.