Man allegedly alters negative Covid-19 test to appear positive, sparks worksite chaos

A NSW man has sparked Covid chaos at a regional worksite after a group chat prank got seriously out of hand.

A man shut down a Dubbo worksite after he allegedly sent out a fake picture of a positive Covid-19 test to his group chat.

According to NSW Police, the man was tested on Thursday and received a negative result via text message at about 6am on Friday morning.

But the man allegedly altered the text message to appear as though his test was positive and sent it in a group chat.

One of the people who received that message notified his workplace, thinking he was a close contact.

As a result, workers were advised to get themselves tested and works at the site were suspended.

Police began investigating after they were notified of the incident and later charged the man who allegedly faked the result with false representation resulting in police investigation.

He is due to appear in the Dubbo Local Court on Monday.

On Friday, NSW recorded 390 new infections; eight of them were from the Dubbo community and by the time the results up to 8pm were annouced, this number had already grown to more than 20.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the situation in Dubbo as a “big challenge”.

Residents in Dubbo Regional Council were plunged into a snap lockdown on Wednesday after two cases were detected in the region.