A man has been fined $1,000 for organising an illegal bush doof that was attended by more than 1,000 people.
The wild party was held at Wilsons Creek, north west of Byron Bay in northern New South Wales, on July 4 as the state desperately tries to avoid a Victoria-style second wave of coronavirus.
There were between 1,000 and 1,500 people in attendance, despite current restrictions mandating only 20 people are allowed to gather outside.
Officers were called to the rural private property in the small town about 3am on July 5 after nearby residents complained multiple times.
A man has been fined $1,000 for organising an illegal bush doof that was attended by more than 1,000 people (stock)
Officers were called to the rural private property in the small town about 3am on July 5 after nearby residents complained multiple times (NSW Police pictured in Sydney)
Police said they were ‘disappointed and dumbfounded’ when they arrived to find up to 1,500 people gathered at the property.
The organiser of the event was a 50-year-old man who had been visiting backpacker hostels in Byron Bay in the days earlier to promote the event.
The man was the owner of the property and was issued a $1,000 infringement on Friday for not complying with noticed direction, a NSW Police statement said.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Keho said police in the Tweed Heads and Byron Bay areas found there had been a number of larger parties.
‘You can still have a good, smaller party, but certainly don’t go to the extremes that we’ve seen in the last few days,’ he said.
It comes as NSW recorded just seven new coronavirus cases on Monday – the lowest the state has seen in weeks – but six were from unknown sources.
New South Wales recorded seven new COVID-19 cases overnight (pictured, a nurse carries out a COVID-19 test at a pop-up clinic)
Of the new cases announced on Monday, one has been linked to an overseas traveller while six were locally acquired transmissions (pictured, a Sydney resident walks the streets wearing a face mask)
‘That is a big concern because … Melbourne didn’t get worse because of the number of cases they had,’ Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday.
‘They had undetected community transmission which then unknowingly got to a stage where it … formed a number of different clusters and we certainly don’t want that to happen here.’
The seven new cases were detected from 10,806 tests, with one case a returned overseas traveller in quarantine.
Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant fears some people with respiratory symptoms are not getting tested as they assume they have the flu when it is far more likely they have COVID.
‘Every day, we are identifying one or two cases of unknown source,’ she said.
Scores of people at a popular Sydney market may have been exposed to the coronavirus after a person worked at the event while infectious.
People wearing face masks walk the streets of Sydney as authorities raise concern over the number of mystery COVID-19 cases in the community
The positive case attended the Sydney Markets at Flemington on August 9, but tested positive a week later.
Close contacts have been identified and advised to isolate themselves for two weeks and get tested.
Anyone else who attended the market between 8am and 4pm are considered casual contacts and must monitor for symptoms.
The market has been thoroughly cleaned and NSW Health says there is no ongoing risk to the public.
The positive case is among the growing number that have unknown sources, which are concerning authorities.
The undetected spread of COVID-19 in Sydney’s west and southwest continues to worry health authorities.
Ms Berejiklian said the trend of mystery cases was a chilling echo of how the second outbreak of COVID-19 spread in Melbourne (pictured, shoppers wearing face masks in front of a Woolworths at Town Hall Station)
It comes as tough new rules are announced to stop the spread of the virus in NSW schools.
Formals, dances, graduation ceremonies, choirs and all social events have been banned and students must remain within their relevant class or year groups.
Dr Chant said the rules applying to public schools would come into effect on Wednesday, but that she has written to private schools asking them to also abide.
“It is also being done with the spirit of trying to make sure that our schools can maintain their on-site learning,” she said.
Under the new guidelines anyone with COVID-19 symptoms is prohibited from returning to school until a negative test result has been reported.
Schools must not travel outside their local community or zone and interschool sport and zone carnivals are restricted to 100 people per venue and held locally.
Residents wearing face masks while out shopping in Sydney CBD on the weekend
State premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Monday authorities were still concerned about community transmission (pictured, a near empty Wynyard Station on the weekend)
Spectators, including parents and carers, won’t be allowed on school grounds or at sporting events held during school hours.
Schools may hold a Year 12 assembly at school without parents to recognise the completion of studies or consider delaying events until later in the year.
However, students and staff required to support HSC students are permitted to meet their HSC requirements with COVID-19 safety measures in place.
Sydney Girls High School – the latest to close because of a COVID infection – said a trial HSC exam set down for Monday would be rescheduled.
Tangara School for Girls in Sydney’s northwest, which has been linked to 25 cases, remains closed.
Three of Monday’s locally acquired cases were close contacts of the cases linked to the Chopstixs restaurant at Smithfield RSL, and two were close contacts of a case linked to Our Lady of Mercy College at Parramatta whose source was still under investigation.