Maskless limo driver Michael Podgoetsky fined for Covid breach

He’s the limousine driver dubbed the “index case’’ in the nation’s worst Covid outbreak – and he has been fined for breaching strict NSW public health orders.

He’s the limousine driver dubbed the “index case’’ in the nation’s worst Covid outbreak – and the law has caught up with him.

Michael Podgoetsky has copped a $500 fine for not wearing a face mask while waiting at a bus stop – which is in breach of strict NSW public health orders.

Police on Tuesday issued a penalty infringement notice to Mr Podgoetsky, 63, for sitting on an outdoor bench near his Bondi home without wearing a protective mask.

Mr Podgoetsky has been described as “the index case” in our state's latest – and worst – Covid outbreak.

His job as a driver of international air crews has been blamed for the original Bondi Delta cluster, which has now spread across NSW, claiming 96 lives in the state so far.

Michael Podgoetsky without a mask while waiting for a bus. Picture: John Grainger

Daily Telegraph journalist Danielle Gusmaroli talks to Michael Podgoetsky as he waits for the bus. Picture: John Grainger

But Mr Podgoetsky maintains he could have caught the strain from his local cafe.

After being seen maskless by The Daily Telegraph at a bus stop on Tuesday, he quickly donned a face covering before being picked up in a car.

Eastern Suburbs police issued him with a fine at 3pm.

“Officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command received information relating to a breach of the Covid-19 public health orders by a 63-year-old Bondi man,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

“The man has now been issued with a $500 PIN for ‘not wear fitted face covering at a public transport waiting area’.”

Mr Podgoetsky on Tuesday described the Delta situation as “scary for the nation” but distanced himself from the outbreak that has plunged the state into its 10th week of lockdown.

“I don‘t want to be associated with this. I got this stupid disease from somewhere, I don’t know where,” he said.

“It’s terrible what’s happening to the country … I followed all the rules.”

Michael Podgoetsky put on a mask after being challenged by The Daily Telegraph. Picture: John Grainger

Under current NSW government regulations, face masks are mandatory outdoors in Greater Sydney, except when exercising, eating and drinking.

Guidelines state they must be worn in a public place, including when walking on the street near shopfronts, at a park, and when queuing outside a cafe or shop for takeaway food.

At the start of the country’s second Covid wave in June, it was revealed Mr Podgoetsky had not been vaccinated and did not wear a mask while transporting an international flight crew from a FedEx plane.

Under NSW public health orders in place at the time, masks were not mandatory.

The NSW government later changed the laws to tighten the rules, making mask-wearing while transferring airport workers compulsory.

Authorities believe Mr Podgoetsky caught the Delta variant from a member of the US aircrew sometime in the two weeks before June 11, with health officials stating the driver was the index case for the Bondi cluster.

NSW Health officials said they did not know for sure but had been working on the “obvious hypothesis” that he caught the strain from the US aircrew before June 11, with tests confirming he had the Delta variant, which was first identified in India.

“That strain does not match anything that’s been uploaded in Australia at this time,” NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said.

Michael Podgoetsky says he has been threatened since the outbreak began. Picture: John Grainger

“But it does match perfectly a sequence that’s been uploaded from the US so that fits with that plausible hypothesis.”

Mr Podgoetsky had tested positive for the virus after undergoing a saliva swab on June 15, and it was confirmed his wife had also been infected. He could have been infectious since June 11.

He has since returned to work and revealed is now fully vaccinated with Pfizer after initially refusing AstraZeneca citing a family history of blood clots.

“We have to have the vaccine, I got Pfizer, both jabs, I (felt) worse than when I was having the disease,” he said.

“The nation is suffering and I don’t want to be associated with this. It’s unfair that people have blamed me for Delta. I got it from somebody.

“I’ve got a drug addict … living (near) me who’s threatening me.

“It’s terrible what’s happening in the country.”

Michael Podgoetsky leaves his Bondi unit. Picture: John Grainger

Despite his daily close contact with flight crews, the driver had previously said he was actually infected with the Delta variant by a customer at his regular coffee stop, Belle Cafe in Vaucluse.

He said he vividly remembered another customer in his 30s near him at the cafe on June 12 who was coughing and sneezing strenuously next him.

The cafe became an exposure site at the start of the outbreak, with an elderly customer catching the virus from an infected person there.

Flight crews are tested on arrival in Australia but Dr Chant said at the time there was a chance some infections could go undetected.

Mr Podgoetsky was employed by Sydney company Legion Limousines, ferrying international aircrews to and from Sydney Airport.

The Berejiklian government was warned four months previously about a “gaping hole in Australia’s biosecurity system” in which unvaccinated and unmasked drivers were transporting international air crew to hotel quarantine – but reportedly rejected the concerns.