Father-of-two who allegedly made a 750km trip to view property in Byron Bay while infected is charged over breaching public health orders

A man took coronavirus from Sydney to Byron Bay during trip in late July
The father of two is being treated for Covid-19 at Lismore Base Hospital
He will be charged with breaching public health orders without an excuse

Published: 03:49 BST, 11 August 2021 | Updated: 04:04 BST, 11 August 2021

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A man who took coronavirus from Sydney to Byron Bay will be charged with breaching public health orders.

Zoran Radovanovic, 52, from Rose Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs, drove eight hours from the locked down Harbour City last month.

He reportedly claimed he was legally inspecting a property in the northern NSW town but police allege he did not have a 'reasonable excuse' to leave Sydney.

Byron Bay and surrounding regions are on high alert for Covid, and are now in a week-long lockdown following a local outbreak

Health officials have said the father-of-two visited several venues in the touristy town.

More than 300,000 people in the Northern Rivers region around Byron were plunged into a week-long lockdown on Monday to reduce any potential spread of Covid.

NSW Police said in a statement: 'Following inquiries, including appeals for public assistance, the 52-year-old man from Rose Bay will be charged after he allegedly travelled from Sydney to Byron Bay and the surrounding area, without a reasonable excuse and in contravention of the public health orders.

'The Future Court Attendance Notice will be served on the man at the Lismore Base Hospital with strict bail conditions.

'He will appear at Lismore Local Court on Monday 13 September 2021.'

Meanwhile, a man in his 30s has died from Covid-19 in New South Wales as the virus continues to spread from its epicentre in western and south-west Sydney with another 344 cases recorded overnight.

Health officials said the man from Sydney's north, who was not vaccinated against the virus, died at Northern Beaches Hospital on Tuesday.

Another man in his 90s from south-west Sydney died at Concord Hospital. The death toll from the city's Delta outbreak now stands at 34.

Of the newly-acquired cases, 101 were out in the community for either part or all of their entire infectious period - while the isolation status of 100 cases is still under investigation. That means as many as 201 cases were not self-isolating when they were contagious.

NSW Health said 112 of the new cases were found in south-west Sydney, along with 110 infections in the city's west and 43 in the Nepean Blue Mountains region.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the Sydney outbreak is threatening to spread out of the city's south-west and western suburbs after higher levels of the virus were detected in the south and inner-west.

A Sydneysiders is pictured at Bondi Beach on Tuesday. New South Wales' outbreak of the highly-contagious Delta variant has grown by another 344 cases

The 344 new locally-acquired cases came as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned more LGAs in Sydney's south and inner-west could face tighter lockdown measures

She threatened to implement tougher lockdown restrictions in the Bayside and Inner-West local government areas if the outbreaks there fail to stabilise.

'We are starting to see cases decline in the Fairfield local government and Canterbury-Bankstown, which is a positive sign,' she said.

'However, local adjoining government areas and suburbs in Bayside and the Inner West are seeing an increase in cases. They aren't at high levels yet but we do not want them to get higher.

'We don't want to include you in those local governments of concern but we may have to do if case numbers don't at least stabilise or start going down.'

Ms Berejiklian also confirmed earlier reports Dubbo will go into a snap week-long lockdown from 1pm Wednesday after two cases were found in the regional town.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said the cases were a young child and a woman in her 40s.