NSW police crack down on COVID compliance
At least 100 more officers will patrol the streets of southwest Sydney from 7am on Friday as police launch a "high-visibility" operation to ensure compliance with public health orders.
"Our police will be targeting the people who think the rules don't apply to them," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.
"Those people are putting everyone's lives at risk, including their own families, and working to prolong the lockdown."
The crackdown comes after Premier Gladys Berejiklian hinted on Wednesday that the Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield and Liverpool local government areas could be subject to stricter COVID-19 restrictions.
Case numbers are surging in the area, with NSW Health picking up unlinked cases in Fairfield.
But some are suggesting the police response is discriminatory, given the strong presence of multicultural communities in that part of Sydney.
"There is absolutely NO logic for the direct targeting of Sydney's black and brown communities," NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
"The *only* logic for targeting the most multicultural part of Sydney is the racist over policing of people of colour."
The extra officers will be drawn from the Dog and Mounted Unit, Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, PolAir and Police Transport Command, as well as general duties officers from the South West Metropolitan Region.
Police Minister David Elliott said the virulent Delta strain was a "game changer".
"Police will be out in the community helping people to comply, but where they don't get compliance they will be out enforcing the public health orders," he said.
Ms Berejiklian on Thursday foreshadowed that Greater Sydney and its surrounds will likely remain in lockdown until the current outbreak is significantly curtailed.
NSW again recorded its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic's third wave, notching up 38 new local cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Wednesday.
At least 20 of those cases were in the community for part or all of their infectious period.
Eleven people are in intensive care in NSW, with three ventilated.
In response to the outbreak, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal government will make an additional 300,000 vaccine doses available to NSW, half AstraZeneca and half Pfizer.
