Mother of two removalists who tested positive to Covid-19 DIES from the virus in a south west Sydney home as police in full PPE enter to investigate and devastated family members are forced to isolate in their cars
- Mother of two Covid-infected removalists has died in her home from Covid
- Family who are considered close contacts were told to isolate in their cars
- Neighbours have been told the street is under a 'hard lockdown' and to stay put
- Both of the woman's sons had Covid while working throughout regional NSW
The mother of two removalists who travelled to regional NSW while infected with Covid has died in her home after also contracting the virus.
Emergency services were called to the Thursday Place address in Green Valley about 9.15am to perform a welfare check.
Any relatives who were locked down inside the home were ordered to their cars, where they were instructed to 'quarantine' as investigations into her death continued.
NSW Health confirmed on Monday that a woman in her 50s died while infected with Covid, making her the fifth person in the state to die from the Delta variant outbreak which has so far infected 1,340 people.
Her sons, Roni and Ramsin Shawka, 27, were identified along with Maryo Shanki, 21, and a fourth man, 49, as the removalists who travelled to regional NSW with Covid.
Roni Shawka and Ramsin Shawka (pictured with family) moved to Australia from Iraq and live in Sydney's west
A relative of two Covid-positive removalists from Sydney's southwest has reportedly been found dead inside her home
Roni Shawka, 27, (pictured with partner) says he did not know he had Covid when he and a team of removalists drove to regional NSW
White vans lined the street well into the afternoon as authorities in personal protective equipment came and went.
Following the grim discovery, residents in nearby houses were reportedly told the entire street has been placed under 'hard lockdown' as investigations into the death continue.
Daily Mail Australia understands locals have been told further directives from NSW Health are imminent.
The four-man removalist crew were already in Orange when NSW Health called to inform Roni that he had tested positive to the highly contagious Indian Delta strain.
Officers were called to the address on Monday morning to perform a welfare check on the woman
The street is blocked off as investigations continue
Police allege the crew kept driving to Molong, further west, to finish off their delivery before being escorted home by cops after two more of the men tested positive.
The twins and Shanki have now been charged with breaching public health orders and are set to face Orange Local Court on August 30.
But Roni, who moved to Australia from Iraq, says they are not to blame and he had not known he was Covid-positive.
'Of course I feel very bad, I feel very bad for what I have done, but it's not my fault. I was driving and he called me from the health department, he told me to stop working and go home, I was already in Orange,' Roni Shawka told the Daily Telegraph.
White vans came and went as authorities in PPE inspected the house
Emergency services were called to an address in Thursday Place in Green Valley on Monday afternoon, where they found the woman, who is believed to be in her 50s.
Ramsin Shawka, 27, (pictured with partner) was also part of the removalist team and has since tested positive
'I gave them the number of my boss, I told them my language is not very good. I did not kill someone… I was doing my work, I swear to god I didn't know I was positive.'
The men face $11,000 fines each and up to six months in jail.
The removalists, who work as third-party contractors for a large western Sydney firm, drove to Figtree near Wollongong on Thursday for a job.
Their employer Aram Yousif then told them they must get tested for Covid-19 under new restrictions brought in by the NSW government.
The new measures require 'essential workers' from Fairfield, Liverpool and the Canterbury-Bankstown areas to undergo regular tests if they are to leave their Local Government Areas - now the epicente of Sydney's outbreak which has climbed to 1,242 infections.
After getting tests under these rules, workers only need to isolate if they have symptoms, something all of the men say they didn't experience.
Having got their tests, the removalists left Sydney again at 4am the following day, driving down the M4 from West Hoxton to Molong, stopping at South Bowenfels and Orange.
The map shows were the men travelled to while they were infected with coronavirus
Emergency services were called to the Thursday Place address in Green Valley about 9.15am to perform a welfare check
At 9.36am Roni Shawka's phone rang, but with the language barrier proving challenging, he told the NSW Health worker to contact his boss Mr Yousif.
Mr Yousif received the call which instructed him to tell Roni he needed to isolate in the cabin of their removal truck.
He claims there was no mention about what should happen to the other men, who were not showing any symptoms.
'These guys have not broken any rules. We just followed the instructions, we have not done anything wrong by the public … but whatever a court decides we will accept,' he said.
Shortly after they left the job in regional NSW, Ramsin Shawka and Maryo Shanki also returned returned positive tests.
At this point, NSW Health ordered a police escort to usher the group back to western Sydney.
Any relatives who were locked down inside the home were ordered to their cars, where they were instructed to 'quarantine' as investigations into her death continued
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