Crackdown: Fines in the hundreds on first day of NSW blitz
NSW police issued nearly 600 infringement notices to people flouting tough new health orders on the first day of a three-week crackdown designed to get the state’s escalating COVID crisis under control.
Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said some people were still not complying even after the state contiuned to record hundreds of new cases and several deaths each day.
On Tuesday NSW has reported 452 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and one death, with at least 54 people circulating in the community for all or part of their infectious period.
An unvaccinated woman in her 70s from western Sydney died in Westmead Hospital after the state recorded eight deaths on Monday.
Southwest and western Sydney suburbs continue to be the main generators for most of the cases, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
The entire state is now locked down and a 21-day police blitz came into effect on Monday to enforce new regulations with almost 18,000 police officers supported by 800 members of the Australian Defence Force.
Lanyon said police also conducted 3800 welfare checks to see if people were following stay-at-home orders.
One COVID positive man from the hotspot of Fairfield in Sydney’s southwest wasn’t home when police arrived and was later unable to provide an excuse for his actions, Lanyon said.
The entire state is now locked down and a 21-day police blitz came into effect on Monday to enforce new regulations with almost 18,000 police officers supported by 800 members of the Australian Defence Force.
Tougher non-compliance fines of up to $5000 are in place with people confined to within five kilometres of their homes.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has warned that officers have been told to adopt “a no-nonsense approach” to people deliberately flouting laws.
Meanwhile, Sydney hospitals are dealing with staff shortages as COVID clusters send workers into isolation at Nepean and St George Hospitals.
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A South Eastern Sydney Local Health District spokesperson said four inpatients and two staff had tested positive for COVID-19 in the oncology ward at St George Hospital.
“All 21 patients on the oncology ward have been tested and been in isolation since the first patient tested positive. The ward is currently closed to new admissions,” the spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The two staff members who tested positive are both fully vaccinated, while three patients have had one dose of the vaccine and one patient has not been vaccinated.
Berejiklian on Monday described daily infection numbers as “disturbingly high” and warned case numbers in the thousands could result if the statewide lockdown fails to work.
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