Eastern suburbs teens breach lockdown, travel 280km from Sydney outbreak

A group of teenagers, mainly from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, have been busted gathering at a holiday home more than 280km away.

A group of Sydney teenagers have been busted staying at a holiday home on the NSW south coast, where they met during the university holidays.

Police visited a rental home at Catalina, near Batemans Bay, on Wednesday and found eight teenagers, aged 18 or 19, who had travelled from their homes at Balgowlah Heights, Bellevue Hill, Bondi, Dover Heights, and Edgecliff.

They were staying at the property before returning to university.

Officers found they had breached lockdown orders and were each slapped with a $1000 fine and told to drive home.

Police have been out in force. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

In another incident, officers stopped a 22-year-old Blacktown woman and a 39-year-old Mt Druitt man who were breaching health orders at Dean Park in the early hours of Wednesday morning

They were issued a fine before being told to go home. They were stopped again on Wednesday at Quakers Hill about 7.30pm, once again breaching health orders, police said.

Rather than heading home, as directed, the pair allegedly travelled on public transport to at least nine different suburbs spanning from Richmond to the CBD.

Police said they went to a fast-food outlet and a hotel where they spent time with two other people.

They have been charged with failing to comply with Covid directions and will appear in court next month.

More than 200 personal infringement notices have been issued in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys is concerned that three weeks into the lockdown some individuals still aren’t complying. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said while majority of people are doing the right thing, he was concerned that three weeks into the lockdown some individuals still weren’t complying.

“Police attended more than 960 Covid-related jobs yesterday, with about 600 of those coming from reports to Crime Stoppers,” he said.

“In total, police detected almost 400 people breaching the public health orders, resulting in about 220 legal actions, ranging from fines through to criminal charges.

“These numbers are concerning, as the more people do the wrong thing, the more chance there is of the virus spreading.”

NSW recorded 65 new infections on Thursday.