Sunshine Coast police arrest two people and issue five fines in crackdown on Covid-19 breaches

Two people were arrested on the Sunshine Coast for alleged Covid-19 breaches, including one woman who allegedly hosted people at her home.

A Maroochydore woman has been arrested and charged for allegedly having “multiple” people in her home despite the Sunshine Coast’s strict eight-day lockdown.

The woman was one of several Sunshine Coast police had to deal with on Monday, August 2 and in the early hours of Tuesday.

District Superintendent Craig Hawkins said the woman allegedly became non-complaint and obstructed police after she had people in her home on Monday.

He did not know how many people the woman allegedly had in her home.

Supt Hawkins said the woman was charged and released on bail with a court date now looming.

“It was quite clear she was not going to cooperate with police,” he said.

He said police also arrested a Mooloolaba man who refused to provide personal details despite several warnings from authorities.

The man was arrested and released on bail with a court date. He was also given a $206 fine for not wearing a mask.

A Maroochydore man who also had multiple people in his home was fined $1378 for failing to comply with a direction.

Supt Hawkins said the man was compliant with police.

A man was also found travelling for non-essential purposes at Woombye. He was fined $1378 for failing to comply with a direction.

Supt Hawkins said there were at least two other Covid-related incidents overnight.

He branded their collective actions as “irresponsible and selfish”.

“Police are taking this extremely seriously,” Supt Hawkins said.

“We have a large number of resources ensuring people are doing the right thing to limit the virus spreading.”

It comes as Queensland recorded 16 new locally acquired cases of Covid-19, which are all linked to the Delta cluster which sent the state’s southeast into lockdown.

Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police would increase their presence on the roads to stop people from breaking strict ‘stay-at-home’ orders by travelling for non-essential reasons.

Supt Hawkins said he was not aware of any RBT set ups yet but said police would continue to intercept vehicles across the district.

“We had a man in Coolum who was intercepted and was charged with drink driving on top of an CHO directive,” he said.

Originally published as Sunshine Coast police arrest two people and issue five fines in crackdown on Covid-19 breaches