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A bride and groom were among the 12 people fined $1,000 for breaching restrictions by leaving the Northern Beaches to throw their lavish wedding near Sydney’s CBD.
Twelve residents aged between 19 and 63 were fined after leaving the city’s northern peninsula to attend a the inner-city reception on Sunday, despite being banned from leaving the region since the Covid-19 outbreak began spreading on December 16.
Police crashed the nuptials at Doltone House in Pyrmont at 5pm on Sunday after receiving a tip-off.
Three mystery cases were recorded on Tuesday, including one from Wollongong, one from inner-west Sydney and another from the Northern Beaches.
Guests who have been fined $1,000 each include a man and woman, both aged 43, from Allambie Heights, a 33-year-old woman from Narraweena, and a 27-year-old man from Frenches Forest.
Police crashed the nuptials at Doltone House in Pyrmont at 5pm on Sunday after receiving a tip-off. Pictured: guests at the reception
Police outside a wedding in Pyrmont’s Doltone House on Sunday. At least 12 guests were from the Northern Beaches
Three women, 19, 22 and 28, and two men, 23 and 63, from Beacon Hill were also slapped with the hefty penalty.
An additional three guests, including a 34-year-old man, a 36-year-old woman, both from Frenchs Forest, and a 26-year-old man from Beacon Hill will also be fined for attending the wedding.
‘After speaking with staff and attendees, police recorded contact details for more than a dozen guests, who are Northern Beaches residents,’ NSW Police said.
NSW police minister David Elliott said the group of Northern Beaches residents committed a ‘bastard act’.
‘You have been living in an area where there has been a cluster … and now everyone at that wedding has to worry if they have been exposed to COVID-19,’ he said on The Today Show on Tuesday.
Dr Elliott warned police can fine or jail people who breach the rules and pointed to a number of ‘disgraceful acts’ of ‘blatant disregard’ for health orders over the Christmas holiday period.
‘There have been disgraceful acts of what I believe is just blatant disregard for the health orders,’ Mr Elliott said.
‘They are simply unacceptable levels of misguided behaviour when it comes to the public health orders.’
Tuesday’s cases were recorded after the 8pm cut off meaning they will be included in Wednesday’s figures amid fears the virus is secretly spreading around the state.
On Tuesday NSW recorded three new local cases, all linked to the hotspot suburb of Avalon, taking the cluster to 129 patients. A further six returned travellers in hotel quarantine tested positive.
The three new mystery cases mean there have now been 13 recorded in the past four weeks, including seven in northern Sydney
Sydney was hit by a storm on Monday night as NSW recorded three new local Covid cases. Pictured: Coogee Beach on Tuesday
Premier Berejiklian said she was hopeful next week’s Test match against India would go ahead at the Sydney Cricket Ground with a 50 per cent crowd. Pictured: Crowds in Melbourne
Premier Gladys Berejiklian urged Greater Sydney residents to get tested after 16,000 people got swabbed on Tuesday, down from 70,000 on Thursday.
She said ‘Greater Sydney must be on high alert’ until the source of the three new mystery cases is found.
‘I say that in order to encourage as many people as possible across the state, even if you live in the regions, if you have the mildest of symptoms please come forward to get tested,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
The three new mystery cases mean there have now been 13 recorded in the past four weeks, including seven in northern Sydney.
They include a 20-year-old Belrose Hotel worker, a Belrose Hotel bottle shop customer, a Crows Nest firefighter who visited the hotel, a man who worked in the CBD near Chifley Square, a Paragon Hotel sports bar customer, a Bondi resident, a Western Sydney driver who transported flight crew to and from the airport and their hotels, and a hotel quarantine cleaner.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said there are 122 active cases in NSW with none in intensive care and 97 per cent being treated outside hospital.
Premier Berejiklian said she was hopeful next week’s Test match against India would go ahead at the Sydney Cricket Ground with a 50 per cent crowd.
Cricket Australia is happy with the health rules but needs to secure a bubble arrangement with Queensland for the players, who are due to play in Brisbane the following week, she said.
Queensland has closed its border to people from Great Sydney until at least 8 January.
On Monday Premier Berejiklian tightened restrictions for gatherings across Sydney as the state recorded five new cases.
The northern zone of the Northern Beaches will remain locked down until January 9 to stop the spread of Covid-19. The southern zone will be released from lockdown on January 2
The iconic 12-minute midnight firework display (pictured last year), which is normally attended by a million people and watched around the world, has been shortened to seven minutes
Premier Berejiklian said officials still don’t know how the outbreak began, meaning the northern zone of the Northern Beaches will remain locked down until January 9 to stop the disease spreading – but residents will be allowed five visitors from the zone on New Year’s Eve.
The southern zone will be released from lockdown on January 2 – but residents are allowed 10 visitors from the zone on December 31.
Amid fears New Year’s Eve could become a super-spreader event, restrictions will tighten in Greater Sydney from Monday night with public gatherings limited to 50 people, down from 100. Home gatherings remain limited to 10 visitors.
Thousands of firefighters, nurses and other frontline workers from across the state were due to watch the fireworks around the Harbour Bridge as a reward for their hard work during such a difficult year – but Premier Berejiklian said another time will be found to thank them.
The iconic 12-minute midnight firework display, which is normally attended by a million people and watched around the world, has been shortened to seven minutes this year to save money during the pandemic.
The premier has told residents to avoid the city centre, saying the decades-old tradition of camping around the harbour to secure a good view is banned.
‘We’re trying to be as generous as possible, but we don’t want to create any superspreading events on New Year’s Eve, that ruins it for everyone,’ she said.
Anyone entering the CBD will need to have a pass from Service NSW to prove they have a booking at a restaurant or are visiting a friend’s home.
The government has also ordered local councils to scrap events unless they can be seated and ticketed outside, with a record of attendees kept.
Plans to allow about 5,000 frontline workers to watch the fireworks from vantage points around the Sydney Harbour have been scrapped. Pictured: Fireworks in 2020
Some 15,000 NSW residents got tested on Sunday. Pictured: Testing in Bondi last week
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant urged residents who want to throw a small party at home to consider hosting barbecues outside.
‘If you can have a barbecue or go to a park or you got an area such as a reserve, that is a safer environment than having people congregate,’ she said.
‘If you have the mildest of symptoms, do not attend any of those events whether they’re indoors or outdoors.
‘The last thing you want to do is be responsible for spreading COVID to your loved ones and the broader community,’ she added.
Premier Berejiklian urged residents to avoid kissing and hugging relatives and friends outside their household.
‘When the clock ticks over to midnight from 31 December to 1 January, I know that’s normally an emotional time where we like to kiss and hug everybody around us. Can I ask for absolute restraint,’ she said.
New South Wales has recorded only five new coronavirus cases but Premier Gladys Berejiklian has tightened restrictions ahead of New Year’s Eve. Pictured: Bondi Beach on Sunday
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