Coronavirus: Woman flouts self isolation orders twice in Australia, fined $1000

Woman from the New South Wales, Australia was recently fined by police for twice defying orders to self-isolate after returning from overseas. In a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus, Australian authorities have ordered a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for citizens arriving from abroad, banned mass gatherings closed schools, ad ordered the closure of all business deemed non-essential.

According to international news media reports, the unnamed women returned from a holiday in Bali last week and was asked to self-isolate. She first breached the isolation orders on March 23 by stepping out of her house. Then again, on March 26, the police spotted her on streets and immediately issued her an on-the-spot fine of $1000. A similar incident happened when the NSW police issued fines to a massage parlour in Sydney which was operating amid the lockdown.

Read: Australia To Deploy Military Forces To Ensure Citizens Follow Lockdown Orders

Talking about citizens flouting orders, David Elliot, NSW police minister said that it was not only stupid but also dangerous behaviour. He added that the fact that people are still not complying is the reason they had police in full force. This comes as Police across Australia has been conducting compliance checks. According to reports, the Queensland police has conducted over a thousand checks whereas the Victoria police claimed that they were keeping an eye on people returning from abroad.  

Read: Fact Check: Did Australia Announce A Lockdown For A Period Of 6 Months?

Military to enforce isolation orders 

Australia’s federal government has reportedly announced that it will mobilize the military forces to enforce the isolation orders in a measure to combat the deadly COVID-19 disease. The drastic effort will be enacted from March 28 midnight onwards. Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared that the returning citizens will be quarantined, without consent, under mandatory quarantine orders for at least 14 days in government-approved facilities by the armed forces. Meanwhile, the deadly pandemic has killed 27,341 and infected 5,96,201 across the globe. 

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