Prime Minister Scott Morrison and New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian have been clear that policies such as social distancing have been designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Australia’s chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy said they are “increasingly confident that if people continue to adhere to what we’ve been asking them to do we can prevent a situation like we’ve seen in many other countries of the world”.
There are currently more than 6200 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia with 2822 in New South Wales.
Assistant Commissioner of the NSW Police Force, Peter Thutell told SBS Kurdish it very important everybody abides by the rules put in place by the government.
“It’s important that social distancing is maintained so we don’t come into contact with people who do have the virus or if we do come into contact someone that has the virus that we sufficiently stay away from them, so it won’t be able to spread easily to us,” Mr Thurtell said.
An individual can be fined up to $1000 and companies can be fined $5000 if they disobey social distancing measures.
“The government has been very clear on what is exempt on social distancing and the confinement rules and people need to know that, if they go to the government’s website, they will be able to see that,” Mr Thurtell said.
He also urged people to stay at home this Easter long weekend, and not travel.
“Caravan parks have been closed many beaches have been closed and many facilities where people would traditionally gather at Easter have also been closed,” he said.
“One of the exemptions is not going for a drive, it’s not travelling, so people should be observing that.”
In regional areas there have very few cases of COVID-19, which Mr Thurtell said is more the reason to avoid those areas.
“The more people go travelling to the regional areas for Easter the more likely it is as well the virus will spread in those areas,” he said.
“People need to be responsible and adhere to the government’s guidelines and one of those is they shouldn’t be travelling this weekend.”
Expect to see a lot more police on the road this weekend who will be stopping motorists to ensure they are legitimately travelling for a reason in the exemptions provided by the government.
“There will be a lot of police out there this weekend making sure that people are doing the right thing.”
Me Thurtell said the roles of police have changed to a “certain degree”.
“We are enforcing the fines, of course that is something we haven’t had to do before, and it is not something that necessary the police take comfort in doing.”
But Mr Thurtell said the police force has a strong role to play in maintaining the spread of this virus which requires them to fine people who are not doing the right thing.
“As our commissioner has said when this crisis is over, he’s happy to give those powers back but in the meantime, it is an essential power for us to continue to enforce the government restrictions.”
Mr Thurtell said while police can’t be everywhere, it is important the community adheres to the rules.
“While people might think they’ve got an entitlement to go away at Easter or whatever, they’re potentially spreading the virus,” he stated.
“We all have a role to play in containing the spread of this virus and if that means for one year that we don’t go away in our traditional Easter holiday or we don’t go out traditional church service or anything else that we traditionally do at Easter, then that’s the sacrifice that we have to make.”
“To be honest it’s not a big sacrifice when you take into account the potential of this virus to kill a lot of people if we don’t contain it.”
In Victoria, there have been 1241 people who have tested positive, 966 in Queensland, 428 in South Australia, 506 in Western Australia, 111 in Tasmania, 103 in the Australian Capital Territory and 28 in the Northern Territory. The death toll now stands at 54.
