Nude sunbathers in Sydney fined for breaking Covid-19 rules
SYDNEY: A pair of nude sunbathers on a remote Sydney beach, who ran into a national park after being "startled" by a deer, have been rescued and fined for breaching coronavirus rules, Australian police said yesterday.
"It is difficult to legislate against idiots," said New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller.
The men were fined A$1,000 (S$1,020) for breaking stay-at-home orders by travelling outside Sydney, which is currently in lockdown to curb a growing Covid-19 outbreak.
They were among more than 40 people fined for breaching health rules in New South Wales state on Sunday, police said.
In Sydney, 130 people have tested positive for Covid-19 - since a driver for an international flight crew was diagnosed in mid-June - with residents put under stay-at-home orders for two weeks from Sunday.
Overall, eighteen new local cases were reported in New South Wales yesterday.
New coronavirus cases also popped up in cities across Australia yesterday, prompting the local authorities to impose curbs in areas not used to living under strict Covid-19 rules.
Brisbane, Darwin and Perth have all reported new cases of the highly contagious Delta variant, which first emerged in India.
A 48-hour lockdown of Darwin and surrounding areas - due to end Tuesday - was extended to Friday after a cluster linked to an outback gold mine grew to seven cases.
The authorities in the cities of Perth and Brisbane again tightened local restrictions yesterday, with mandatory masks and limits on social gatherings imposed on more than two million people in Brisbane and its surroundings.
Other regions without confirmed cases have ramped up their rules, with masks now required indoors in the nation's capital Canberra and sweeping restrictions announced for South Australia. - AFP
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