Cops flood Sydney’s CBD to stop anti-lockdown protesters as state records 825 new Covid cases

672

View
comments

NSW has registered its worst day of Covid cases Australia has seen during the global pandemic with a staggering 825 new infections on Saturday.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed the record high numbers in her daily Covid press conference as Sydney enters its ninth week of lockdown, lamenting the ‘catastrophic consequences’ of the minority doing the wrong thing in the community. 

‘This is nothing Australia has seen before. Even in very strict and harsh lockdowns, the virus is spreading,’ she said.

‘That is a fact. What we need to do is protect ourselves and loved ones by staying at home and getting vaccinated.’

There were at least 58 residents who were infectious in the community with three deaths recorded overnight – a man in his 80s, a man in his 90s and a woman in her 80s. 

There were 120,000 vaccines given on Friday alone, as the state moving towards six million jabs. 

Victoria had Australia’s previous daily record of 725 cases which was recorded during the state’s mammoth 112-day lockdown last year. 

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said people breaking the laws and attending illegal parties are playing roulette with the state’s future.

‘There are those amongst us who don’t seem to give a damn. They are out attending parties, they are out doing what they have been told not to do, facilitating the spread of the virus,’ he said.

‘I would just say to them, you are ransoming our future, you are making sure that none of us can get back to a normal life.’

He said the infamous Maroubra rave, which has seen 16 infections so far, had at least 60 people in attendance, while a funeral in western NSW saw as many as 350 attend. 

Meanwhile police officers have flooded the Sydney’s CBD amid fears another anti-lockdown protest will break out like the one that embarrassed the city in July.

More than 1,500 officers have been stationed at various points around the city including train stations and major roads to ensure there isn’t a repeat of the July 24 ‘freedom’ rally. 

Authorities have suspended all trains running into the city in an attempt to quash people entering the CBD, particularly from Sydney’s west and south-west. 

‘Until 2pm today, trains will not stop at Redfern, Town Hall, Martin Place, Wynyard, Circular Quay, St James and Museum due to a police operation,’ NSW Police said.

Taxi and rideshare services will again be shut out of the city between 9am and 3pm, with companies facing fines of up to half a million dollars if they take passengers to the CBD and surrounds. 

Premier Berejiklian pleaded for residents of NSW to follow orders and stay at home as the state reels from its worst day.  

‘I extend my deepest appreciation for the vast majority of people doing the right thing, the vast majority get its important to stay at home… I receive messages every day from people who express their personal circumstances about how difficult it is,’ she said on Saturday morning.

‘It really breaks my heart… but the bottom line is they know they are doing it for the greater good. 

‘I appeal to everybody, please consider the greater good. Only a handful of people are doing the wrong thing but it is having catastrophic consequences.’ 

Police have made several arrests at Victoria Park outside Sydney University as a small number of protesters attempted to congregate.

Several unmasked men and women attended the area, with police attempting to divert people and being forced into arresting several members. 

Officers were seen putting people in headlocks and tackling others to ground as scenes turned violent.

Other demonstrators were pictured being searched as NSW Police attempt to clamp down on Covidiots continuing to break rules. 

Premier Berejiklian said the majority of the people in attendance at the illegal party in Maroubra came from the 12 LGAs of concern, who moved out of their 5km radius to attend the rave. 

‘People left those local government areas of concern and attended the gatherings in other areas illegally and unfortunately 80 per cent of cases are coming from the same part of Greater Sydney,’ she said. 

NSW is readying for a raft of new Covid-19 rules to become mandatory on Monday as the premier pleads with Sydney residents to ‘bunker down’ for at least another six weeks.

Stay-at-home orders will apply in Sydney until at least September 30 while a dozen hotspot local government areas will face harsher rules, including a curfew from 9pm to 5am.  

The funeral Mr Hazzard referred to has a rural town in north-west NSW is on edge after two Covid-19 positive mourners attended the service for a 26-year-old man.

There are fears the funeral, held in Wilcannia on Friday August 13, could become a superspreader event with the Heath Minister saying there was as many as 350 people in attendance.

Health officials are scrambling to identify and test everyone who was at the service.

The two people, a couple from Dubbo who travelled to Wilcannia for the funeral, returned positive tests earlier this week, sparking panic in the town where they had been while infectious.

Residents have been urged to get tested and stay inside until August 27, but local woman Deirdre Sammon didn’t told Daily Mail Australia there would likely be ‘heap more cases’ in the tight-knit community within the coming days.  

‘Houses are over-crowded, and people don’t live in nuclear families – it’s more like a big community, and everyone’s always going in and out of each other’s houses,’ Ms Sammon said.

‘I think that’s slowed down now and people are taking it more seriously and getting tested, but there’s one shop and one post office and people are always going in and out.’

The 49-year-old was supposed to go the funeral but didn’t make it on the day, and explained she’s extremely worried about her family because she has an elderly father and a 10-month-old grandchild. 

Rosi Bates said the everyone in the town is in a state of worry and panic.

‘It’s effecting us physically, emotionally and mentally,’ she said.

‘Plus, with all of this going on we have a lot of loses in the community which has a bigger impact on us with grief and sadness and depression is going to rise higher than normal with the isolation and lockdown.’   

From Monday mask-wearing will be mandatory for all people in NSW when outdoors, except when exercising. 

Construction sites will also face a compliance blitz as SafeWork NSW officers hunt for rule-breakers this weekend.

Three Sydney building sites saw fines of thousands of dollars each in the last week for not ensuring their workers were vaccinated.  

One site in Liverpool has to cough up $20,000 after inspectors found its workers were not wearing masks or scanning QR codes, and their boss hadn’t ensured they were vaccinated or tested.

Residents in those council areas in the city’s west and southwest are from Monday limited to one hour of outdoor exercise per day.

Committee for Sydney CEO Gabriel Metcalf said the committee had ‘grave concerns’ that people in public spaces outdoors were being over-policed.

‘To date, we are not aware of any evidence of significant transmission of Covid in outdoor spaces,’ Mr Metcalf said.

NSW police have been given greater powers to enforce compliance including the ability to lock down apartment blocks while NSW Health assesses Covid-19 risk – before anyone even tests positive.

People who enter LGAs of concern without a reasonable excuse will face fines of $1000 and an order to isolate at home for two weeks.

Hardware stores like Bunnings, office supply stores and other retail premises must close in those 12 areas except for click-and-collect, and all exams and education activities must move online, except the HSC. 

A permit system will from Saturday also come into force for people travelling between Greater Sydney and regional NSW, which is in lockdown until at least August 28.

NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns said Covid-19 does not ‘respect lines on a map’ and people were doing their best to comply with an ever expanding and confusing set of health orders.

‘Since this lockdown started up until now, there have been 39 sets of changes to health orders and there are currently 39 pages of public health orders,’ he said.

‘Let’s get a clear and simple message from the NSW government and that should include what is the objective of the three month lockdown if, as the premier insists Covid zero is now no longer possible.’

Covid-19 vaccinations for all NSW healthcare workers will be mandated by the end of next month, and for childcare workers and disability support workers in the council areas of concern by August 30.                

Young men determined to continue gathering after dark during Sydney’s hard lockdown have found themselves facing large fines and arrest warrants, including a 27-year-old who tested positive to Covid and allegedly refused to isolate. 

The missing man police are searching for who is suspected to be Covid positive is Anthony Karam, 27, who NSW police allege ‘failed to isolate as directed by the Public Health Order’.

Police say they have tried to find Mr Karam, who is from Bankstown, multiple times since his positive Covid test to no avail and are now seeking help from the wider community.

A warrant has been issued for Mr Karam’s arrest. He was last seen at an address at Wentworth Point wearing a black tracksuit and maroon dressing gown.

Brad Hazzard referenced him in Saturday morning’s Covid press conference, calling him ‘the worst of the worst’. 

‘This 27-year-old chap who apparently has expressed the view that he doesn’t care less whether he spread the virus is one example of the worst of the worst,’ he said defiantly. 

Mr Karam is known to frequent the Greenacre, Wentworth Point and Parramatta regions and is 170cm tall with a thin build.

The public are urged to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 if they see Mr Karam and warned not approach him.

On Friday night NSW police helicopters and the bomb disposal unit were alerted about a gathering of eight teen boys on the rocks below Ben Buckler Point at North Bondi. 

Five were arrested after trying to flee the scene.

Two were chased down on foot and three were caught after trying to escape up the cliff face.

Police issued all eight men, aged between 15 and 19, with infringement notices and one was found to allegedly be in possession of ketamine and cannabis.