NSW will enter a statewide lockdown from 5pm tonight for 7-days, meaning an extension for residents in the Northern Rivers.

The news was announced by Ben Franklin MLC following a call he received from the Deputy Premier. The announcement follows this mornings release of 466 new COVID cases, the highest seen since the start of the Delta COVID-19 variant.

As mentioned earlier today, the Armidale lockdown was extended by 7-days despite zero new cases overnight, there were serious concerns about Central Western NSW after 26 news cases with towns like Dubbo and Walgett in lockdown and concerns over neighbouring Orange. The Hunter Valley had 16 news cases overnight then there were the sewage fragments found at Ballina and Borken Hill.

The spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant has been unstoppable mainly due to the selfish few who have broken the Stay At Home orders and travelled to regional areas of NSW. Now we all pay the price for a further 7-days just when the signs were looking positive for the Northern Rivers to come out of lockdown on Tuesday morning.

The NSW Police Force will increase their presence throughout the state when they launch Operation STAY AT HOME from 12.01am Monday 16 August 2021 in a bid to enforce new public health orders.

The operation will utilise resources from all Police Districts and Police Area Commands under Metropolitan and Regional Field Operations alongside officers attached to Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Police Transport Command, Dog and Mounted Unit, and a number of other specialist commands as required.

Significantly, 1400 officers attached to Traffic and Highway Patrol Command will be dedicated to both static and mobile COVID-19 compliance operations on the state’s roads.

A further 500 Australian Defence Force troops, in addition to the 300 already deployed, will assist with compliance checks and patrols.

Operation STAY AT HOME will be coordinated from the Police Operations Centre (POC) in Sydney under the command of Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said the NSW Government was supporting the Commissioner’s call for assistance in the most practical way.

“The Commissioner asked for tighter Public Health Orders and the government agreed, the Commissioner asked for higher fines and the Government agreed, and the Commissioner asked for more ADF personnel and we have an additional 500 highly-trained ADF personnel arriving to assist,” Mr Elliott said.

“We’ve had to tighten the current public health orders because of the minority who exploited them. Enough is enough. If you do it, you will get fined.

“The only way out of this COVID-19 crisis is if we support each other and support the NSW Police-led compliance operation, Operation STAY AT HOME.”

Deputy Commissioner Mal Lanyon, Metropolitan Field Operations, said the operation would see more police on the ground across Greater Sydney, utilising some of the strongest powers ever given to police.

“The level of non-compliance by some members of the community is unacceptable and we will be doubling down with compliance and enforcement to make sure we get ahead of the Delta strain,” Deputy Commissioner Lanyon said.

“It only takes one person to do the wrong thing to facilitate the considerable spread of the virus.

“We will be issuing $5000 fines to people and closing any businesses which continue to breach the health orders, and will not apologise for these increased enforcement efforts going forward.”

Deputy Commissioner Mick Willing, Regional NSW Field Operations, said preventing movement to regional areas from Sydney, and between regional areas, would be a key focus of the operation.

“There will be more roadblocks on main arterial roads and backroads from tomorrow, and these operations will continue to expand throughout this week in order to enforce the permit system announced by the NSW Government this morning,” Deputy Commissioner Willing said.

“There will be nowhere to hide if you are doing the wrong thing. If you travel anywhere beyond your LGA at the moment, you are putting everyone else in NSW at considerable risk.

“From the start, this has been about reducing movement across the state and protecting the health and safety of everyone, and this operation significantly strengthens those efforts.”