NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that the fines for breaching stay-at-home orders will increase from this coming Monday.
After today’s 466 local cases of COVID-19, Berejiklian revealed that there will be a number of changes to the Greater Sydney lockdown.
From Monday, the 16th August, at 12:01am, the following will take effect:
- $5000 for on the spot breach of home quarantine, currently $1000.
- $5000 on the spot for lying on a permit, which is already a criminal offence.
- $5000 on the spot for lying to a contact tracer, which is already a criminal offence.
- $3000 for breaching the two-person exercise rule in any way.
- $3000 on the spot fine for breaching rules going into regional NSW.
Speaking in a statement, Berejiklian added: “The increased fines and heightened police presence are about ensuring people who are doing the wrong thing are caught and punished appropriately.”
Additionally, people in the Greater Sydney areas not including the affected LGAs will now only be able to travel within a 5km radius of their home. Gladys warned that for people in the affected LGAs, going outside to exercise means only exercise and the supervision of children, and does not relate to recreational purposes.
In affected LGAs, you will need to register your single bubble buddy to make sure people aren’t abusing that rule. If you are in Greater Sydney and need to go to Regional NSW for an essential reason, including inspecting a rental property or visiting your second home, you’ll need a permit as of midnight next Saturday.
NSW will also be deploying special forces units and riot squads as part of a new stay-at-home police operation, which includes an additional 500 Australian Defence Force personel. The changes come after a number of people were breaching stay-at-home orders including a Sydney man who fled to Byron Bay and led to the region going into lockdown.
Speaking at today’s conference, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said: “The New South Wales police force will launch ‘Operation Stay At Home’ Sunday at midnight. Police will be supported by the Australian Defence Force as you know, there are already 300 men and women of the ADF on the ground and an additional 500 will come online from Monday.
“The movement, particularly in greater Sydney, was way too high from our perspective in terms of what we were trying to achieve, and our part in this is to get New South Wales Health ahead of the delta variant. These are some of the biggest fines that I have ever seen, and we will be issuing them as of today.
“So can I say to the members of the community out there, you may think that leaving your LGA to train is okay, but it’s not. You have a five-kilometre limit from your house in greater metropolitan Sydney. We will be enforcing that.”
There were 466 local cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours since 8pm last night. 76 of them were in isolation throughout their infectious period, 19 in part of that period, and at least 68 were infectious in the community.
There are currently 378 COVID patients in hospital, 64 in intensive care and 29 on ventilators. NSW Health said that they’re seeing more younger patients in intensive care including four in their 20s, six in their 30s and seven in their 40s.
There were 129,352 tests in the last 24 hours and 29,397 doses administered by NSW Health in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 4,908,840. We’re so close to five mills, you guys, I can taste it. Keep at it.
All adult Aussies (yep, even if those of us under 40) are currently able to get the safe and effective AstraZeneca vaccine through a GP. Click here to see which clinics are offering it, and talk to a doctor to see if it’s right for you.
Alternatively, you can triple-check to see if you’re eligible for the Pfizer vaccine here.
The best vaccine is the first one you can get, and that’ll be our ticket out of this mess.
