Sydney church fined for flouting lockdown by holding service

SYDNEY: Australian police yesterday criticised a Sydney church for flouting the city's Covid-19 lockdown by holding a service for 60 people in a pandemic hot spot.

The church is part of Christ Embassy, an international religious group headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

After being tipped off by residents on Sunday, police moved in on the Christ Embassy Sydney church, issuing a fine of A$5,000 (S$4,900) to the organisation and A$1,000 fines to 30 parishioners.

Australian media quoted a Facebook-streamed sermon on Sunday from the church as saying that it "refused every lockdown in our cities" and that the lockdown was over.

The Sydney church did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

CONTRADICT

"It is always disheartening and disappointing when you see people blatantly take it upon themselves to contradict what we know works, to contradict what we know is keeping people out of hospital," Ms Gladys Berejiklian, the Premier of New South Wales state - of which Sydney is the capital - told a news conference.

The whole of greater Sydney is currently under stay-at-home orders as it struggles to contain a Delta variant outbreak that now tops 800 new cases a day.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday extended the strict nationwide Covid-19 lockdown, saying the current outbreak of the Delta variant had not yet peaked.

The Level 4 lockdown was extended by three days until midnight on Aug 27 while Auckland, the epicentre of the outbreak, will have restrictions in place at least until Aug 31.

New Zealand earlier in the day reported 35 new cases, taking the total in the latest outbreak to 107.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that 33 new cases are in Auckland and two are in the capital Wellington. - AFP, REUTERS