A woman was left ‘inconsolable’ after armed police officers interrupted her father’s funeral to enforce a 10-person attendance limit imposed as part of coronavirus social distancing rules.
Helen Kolovos’ funeral for her father in Victoria on Saturday was disrupted by two officers who walked into the church as his coffin was being carried out near the end of the service.
Ms Kolovos said the officers started counting the number of people in attendance.
The federal government imposed a limit of 10 people at funerals last month in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has killed 61 Australians and infected more than 6,300.
Ms Kolovos said they had complied with the ten-person limit, and family members even sat in separate pews despite coming from the same household.
Two armed police officers walked into a funeral service at a church on Saturday to enforce social distancing rules
The family weren’t breaching any restrictions as all funeral attendees were members of the same household
‘Being from a Greek family it was already mission impossible to do that, but we did, we literally had to pick and choose our own family and say you can come, you can’t come,’ she told the Guardian.
The mother said it broke her heart ‘into a million pieces’ when the police entered the church carrying guns.
‘But the way they came in, they didn’t bow their heads or anything. They just started speaking to some of the people who were working in the church and taking notes as we’re carrying out my dad,’ she said.
‘Just pause what you’re doing for one moment, bow your head, just give that man a little shred of respect. I was inconsolable. That whole moment of farewelling my dad, that moment was taken away from me.’
Ms Kovolos said it was too painful to speak when approached by Daily Mail Australia.
Australians face fines of up to $1,600 if they’re caught breaching social distancing measures.
Gatherings of more than two people who aren’t from the same household have been banned, and people should only leave their house for essential shopping, exercise, medical appointments and work or school.
Australians are being warned the restrictions put in place to contain COVID-19 will be in place for many more weeks, despite the nation’s infection rate dropping.
State and federal leaders will meet later this week to discuss when restrictions can be relaxed.
‘I do want to caution Australians that we’re not in that phase yet … we’re many weeks away from being in a place like that,’ Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Seven’s Sunrise on Tuesday.
He said any lifting of restrictions would need to be backed up by a strong health system and even stronger testing regime.
‘You’ve seen in places like Singapore and Sweden and other parts of the world where the virus has just taken off again,’ he said.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said it was important Australia maintained social distancing measures for the time being, as every single undetected community transmission could infect a lot of people.
‘The scale of measures at the moment are something that we clearly do have to review … but it’s not now, it’s within the next few weeks,’ he told ABC radio.
Ms Kolovos said they had complied with the ten-person limit, and family members even sat in separate pews despite coming from the same household (stock image)
‘We need to look at all of the data, look at our preparedness, and the national cabinet will be making a lot of decisions about what, if anything, can be relaxed in the coming weeks.’
Professor Murphy said he would be concerned if social restrictions were relaxed before public hospitals were fully prepared and the country had enough personal protective equipment.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said the aim was to work towards ‘effective eradication’ of the disease.
Meanwhile, the federal government is considering subsidising domestic flights for airlines hammered by the pandemic.
Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said there were no guarantees international flights would resume by December.
He is encouraging people to take domestic holidays instead once the pandemic subsides.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police for comment.
