Australians now face $5,000 fine for coughing or spitting on ANY worker

A $5,000 on-the-spot fine for spitting and coughing on NSW health workers has been expanded to include all other essential workers. 

Police will now be able to fine people who target all types of workers including cleaners, midwifes, police, border force and retail workers, not just those in emergency services or healthcare.

Those found guilty of these vile attacks will face a possible six months imprisonment. 

The retail workers’ union said its members had ‘borne the brunt of a huge upsurge in customer abuse’ during the pandemic.

A Coles employee sprays disinfectant on a checkout area at a store in Collingwood in Melbourne to protect staff and customers from coronavirus

‘The reports of supermarket and other retail workers being coughed and spat on over the past weeks are becoming disturbingly common,’ Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association NSW/ACT Secretary Bernie Smith said in a statement on Sunday. 

The news comes after a drunk motorcyclist was fined for coughing and spitting at police officers on Friday afternoon. 

The man was stopped by police in Beverly Hills in Sydney’s south when he was spotted not wearing a helmet.

After being pulled over, the 31-year-old then allegedly coughed and spat at the police.

They undertook a roadside breath test and he allegedly returned a positive reading of 0.079. 

In another incident, a woman allegedly spat in the face of a doctor while being treated at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital on Sydney’s upper north shore on Monday.

A nurse screens patients outside a clinic in the Barossa Valley, north of Adelaide (pictured). Many nurses have been abused in public amid the pandemic, with some being told not to wear their uniforms outside of work in fear of getting attacked

Police allege the emergency department doctor was treating the woman for a large laceration to her arm when she allegedly spat in his face and became aggressive. 

The alleged incident was reported to police, who arrested a woman at a Hornsby home on Tuesday night.

Mr Smith said we must be respectful to all people during the pandemic.

‘These are our neighbours stocking our shelves and manning our cash registers,’ he said.

‘They are also your friends’ sons and daughters, and your colleagues’ partner or parent.

‘Sometimes we’ve all just got to step back and remember that we’re all in this together.’  

NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Karen Webb said it is ‘traumatic’ for health and public officials to be dealing with incidents such as these.

‘It is very traumatic because my peers and public officers working at the frontline are putting their lives ahead of other people during this time,’ she said.

Police arrest a man at Sydney’s Bondi Beach after breaching lock down measures over the Easter long weekend

‘To have someone spit or cough at them puts them in no doubt a lot of stress while they wait to see what the results are of the person that coughed or spat – whether they are positive – and what that means for them if they are.

‘But just the theatre that creates… and it is abhorrent to think that someone would spit at another person.’

The Berejiklian government also announced on Sunday it was pumping $25 million into fast-tracking statewide coronavirus research and clinical trials and $14 million into its small business advisory program Business Connect.

NSW coronavirus death toll has reached 29 after three deaths from the virus were confirmed on Saturday.

The latest death came amid an outbreak at the Anglicare’s Newmarch House aged care home in Caddens.

Medical staff test patients at the drive through COVID-19 testing facility at Bondi Beach last week

A worker had mild symptoms while attending the facility for six days before testing positive last week.

Ten staff and 20 residents at the western Sydney home now have COVID-19, NSW Health says.

The 93-year-old man Newmarch resident who died on Saturday morning was ‘already suffering multiple serious health issues’, Anglicare Sydney chief executive Grant Millard said.

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with the grieving family through this very distressing time,’ he said.

An 83-year-old Queensland man, who was a passenger of the Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship, died in Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

A 58-year-old woman died in Tamworth Hospital and authorities are attempting to trace how she contracted the virus. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk