A coronavirus case who left isolation to buy dumbbells and three virus-infected removalists who travelled to regional NSW are among more than 150 people fined for breaching COVID rules in the past 24 hours.
NSW Police attended more than 1,000 COVID-related jobs on Friday, with more than half coming from tip-offs to Crime Stoppers.
In total, 162 fines were issued and 18 people charged for breaches of the Public Health Act.
Among them was a 25-year-old aged care worker who returned a positive COVID test.
The Mt Druitt man was fined $1000 on Friday after police discovered he drove to Blacktown to buy dumbbell weights.
Three infected removalists from West Hoxton in southwest Sydney were also nabbed after travelling through regional NSW.
The trio – and another man who hadn’t tested positive – travelled to Molong in central western NSW, stopping in Figtree, South Bowenfels and Orange along the way.
Police escorted the men and their vehicles back to Greater Sydney, issuing the trio with court attendance notices for failing to comply with COVID directions.
NSW Police Minister David Elliott blasted the men for putting the majority who are abiding by the health orders at risk.
“This thoughtless act has now placed our regional communities in NSW at the greatest risk so far with this pandemic,” Mr Elliott said.
“We know that the Delta variant is highly transmissible, and it is unfathomable to think that, with all the public information and health warnings, people could so blatantly ignore the health orders.”
It comes after two different COVID-infected NSW removalists breached their workers’ permit conditions and spread the virus during a drop-off in Melbourne in early July, sparking an outbreak that has resulted in the city’s fifth lockdown.
NSW recorded another 111 new cases on Saturday, at least 29 of which were infectious before going into isolation, a number that has prompted authorities to again tighten lockdown restrictions.
AAP
