NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard lashes out at prankster who ‘dobbed him in as Covid-positive’

Brad Hazzard has lashed out at pranksters submitting false positive Covid tests online after he himself was wrongly dobbed in as Covid positive.

The NSW Health Minister said hundreds of the state’s 13,763 rapid antigen tests reported on Tuesday and more in previous days were fake.

Mr Hazzard said he received a notification that he had tested positive, despite being Covid free and giving a live press conference.

‘I am aware of some importance that some people think it’s a joke, perhaps malicious, to put in false reports, to NSW Health about somebody being positive,’ he said.

‘I can now speak from personal experience, I received notification yesterday and again today from NSW Health that apparently somebody has put my name in there as being a positive rapid antigen test.

‘Can I just say, first of all, it is extremely irresponsible, you are undermining what the public health team is trying to do here to keep the entire community safe.’

Mr Hazzard then launched into a lengthy and stinging rebuke of anyone who would mess with the system, and threatened them with a $5,000 fine.

‘It is juvenile, it is moronic but it’s also so disappointing to think that you would actually undermine an incredibly hard-working public health team here in NSW,’ he said. 

‘I want to remind them that that there is a $5,000 fine for anybody who misrepresents any facts to the NSW Health people who are trying to keep us safe.

‘The police will come hunting and if you’re caught, you will cop a $5,000 fine but worse still, when you’re telling your friends about that, they will probably tell you how stupid you are. It’s quite moronic.’

NSW suffered its deadliest day since the pandemic began on Tuesday with 36 deaths and 29,830 new Covid cases

The health minister’s outrage came on NSW’s deadliest day of the pandemic with 36 lives lost. 

The youngest of the NSW fatalities was aged in their 40s while all but three were over-65.

The state also suffered another 29,830 new Covid infections. 

More than half of NSW’s new daily infections came from PCR tests while more than 13,750 self-reported their positive rapid antigen test results.

Epidemiologist Tony Blakely believed cases have reached their peak in at least four states.

‘I think we’ve seen the peak certainly in NSW,’ he told Sunrise on Tuesday.

‘I think the peak in case numbers have happened in Victoria or are very near it.

‘Tasmania and ACT have passed through their peak of case numbers.’ 

NSW’s top doctor has warned deaths in the state are likely to climb over the coming days

NSW’s Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant has meanwhile warned deaths in the state are expected to climb over the next few days as the full impact of last week’s huge case numbers becomes known.

‘But the key message is those boosters will improve the protection,’ she said. ‘Only one of the 17 people that died had been boosted.’ 

Dominic Perrottet has warned lockdowns are ‘the only alternative’ to the state’s current efforts to control the virus. 

‘The best way out of this pandemic is to continue to stand strong and to push through,’ he told reporters.

‘It’s not the easy approach but it’s the right approach.

‘The only alternative is to go into lockdown.’ 

A shopper is seen wearing a mask while at Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall last week