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Police officers stormed a 700 guest wedding and booted out half the guests after they were tipped off about the ‘blatant’ Covid breach.
Paradiso Receptions in Fairfield in Sydney’s west was fined $5,000 for facilitating a wedding with double the COVID-safe capacity on Sunday night.
Video uploaded to Snapchat appeared to show the moment officers crashed the dimly lit reception about 9.30pm and began a rough head count.
When they realised the venue was well over capacity, they fined organisers and instructed guests to leave.
It is not clear if any guests have been fined yet.
Video uploaded to Snapchat appeared to show the moment officers crashed the dimly lit reception about 9.30pm on Sunday and began a rough head count
Paradiso Receptions in Fairfield in Sydney’s west was fined $5,000 for facilitating a wedding with double the COVID-safe capacity on Sunday night (pictured, a wedding at the venue)
According to the Herald Sun, the Fairfield venue was also accused of failing to comply with the conditions of its COVIDsafe plan, which restricts movements of guests and limits the amount of people who are allowed to dance.
Acting Commissioner Mal Lanyon said initial estimates revealed about 500 guests were present, but that number has since swelled to about 700.
The venue can ordinarily accommodate 1,100 people and was forced to close earlier in the pandemic because its business model wasn’t ‘suitable’ for the limitations.
Police Minister David Elliott on Monday said he was ‘infuriated’ after learning of the ‘blatant breach’.
‘It has infuriated me. It’s not the way that I wanted to spend my Monday morning, I can assure you,’ Mr Elliot told 2GB.
‘It’s only going to take one person to do the wrong thing, and then we have another Avalon on our hands.’
Police Minister David Elliott said Paradiso Receptions (pictured) in Fairfield was at double its COVID-safe capacity on Saturday night
New South Wales Health ramped up its investigation of a Covid cluster in Berala in Sydney’s west linked to a BWS store – with cases now popping up across Greater Sydney
From Monday, weddings are again capped at 100, and have been strictly regulated amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the time of the bash on Sunday, there were limited to 350 and they remain completely banned in the Northern Beaches.
In Greater Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong weddings must have one person per 4sqm while the rest of NSW is two square metres.
Across the state, a maximum of 20 people are permitted on the dance floor at weddings and must be the same group of 20 for the whole event.
Fears have been raised about a possible outbreak as Fairfield is only about 10km from Berala where a Covid cluster has been growing.
NSW Health ramped up its investigation of the cluster, which has been linked to a BWS store after two infected staff members worked nine busy shifts over the Christmas period.
Weddings have been strictly regulated events amid the Covid-19 pandemic with just 350 guests permitted in NSW. They are completely banned in the Northern Beaches (Pictured: Paradiso Receptions where the wedding took place)
So far, 13 cases have been officially linked to the cluster, but at least two more will be added to the figures on Tuesday morning. Officially, NSW recorded no new cases on Monday.
Authorities are concerned thousands more could have been exposed to the virus at the busy store over the Christmas.
New South Wales Deputy Premier John Barilaro said the Berala cluster was concerning as transmission happened despite people spending very short periods of time inside the bottle shop.
He has not ruled out a local lockdown, similar to what was seen in the Northern Beaches.
‘We will always consider what we can do in relation to a lockdown and further restrictions, especially where there is a hot spot,’ he told the Today Show.
From Monday, Sydneysiders can be fined $200 for refusing to wear protective face masks in public (pictured, walkers at the Opera House on Sunday)
‘One of the things we said when we were lifting restrictions was that if we had to respond, it would be fast and it would be hard and local, just like we have done for the peninsular.
‘There is no reason we couldn’t do that for Berala, Cumberland LGA area.’
In late December, 21 people from the Northern Beaches who attended a wedding in Sydney – including the bride – were each fined $1,000 for breaching stay-at-home orders.
The guests had all travelled from the Northern Beaches, which was in lockdown at the time to stem the spread of a Covid outbreak in the region.
There were 22,275 tests reported to 8pm last night, compared with the previous day’s total of 18,923 – but health bosses wanted more than 30,000 tests per day to be sure the virus isn’t spreading undetected.
Mr Barilaro said testing results were still too low and urged residents to come forward.
‘My plea today for those in western Sydney, please come out in numbers.’
There were seven cases reported on Monday, all were in hotel quarantine. However, two locally acquired cases were detected overnight, linked to the BWS Berala cluster in Sydney’s west.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said there are more than 2,000 people who may have visited the Berala store over the Christmas period.
Contact tracers are relying on CCTV and Rewards cards data to track close contacts.
People who attended BWS or Woolworths in the Berala shopping centre on Sunday 20 December between 12.30pm and 2pm are being urged to get tested immediately and self-isolate until a negative result is received.
But there are concerns that people who were exposed to the virus in that period could have already spread Covid throughout the community, potentially exposing tens of thousands of people along the way.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) announced the tough new rules for Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains as New South Wales recorded seven new Covid-19 infections on Saturday
Anybody who visited the Berala BWS (pictured) between December 22 and December 31 must self isolate for 14 days and seek a Covid test, even if they only briefly visited
Pictured: Diana Falasca, 28, and her new husband Mark Bonifacio at their wedding celebrations before 21 guests were fined for breaching Covid rules in December
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