Police issued almost 300 COVID-19 infringement notices across the Hunter in the first five full days of lockdown.
NSW Police data shows 299 Personal Infringement Notices (PINs) were handed out between Friday and Tuesday across the districts of Port Stephens-Hunter, Lake Macquarie, Hunter Valley and Newcastle City.
Lake Macquarie had the most with 102, with 26 and 27 recorded on Saturday and Sunday respectively and a further 31 on Tuesday. Newcastle City recorded 77 Pins in the five days, Hunter Valley had 75 and Port Stephens had 45.
The most daily PINs in those districts were each recorded on the weekend. Newcastle and Port Stephens had 27 and 19 notices respectively on Saturday, while Hunter Valley recorded 29 on Sunday.
It comes as a female tester was punched by an unmasked man in Sydney's west on Tuesday afternoon.
The Health Services Union condemned the assault on the COVID tester at Dundas. Prior to the assault, the man had allegedly been filming the tester and making abusive comments about vaccination.
"Assaulting people working on the frontline of the pandemic is beneath contempt," HSU NSW secretary, Gerard Hayes said. "Health and hospital workers are already battling anxiety and exhaustion. Violent attacks like this push them beyond breaking point."
Investigations are also still ongoing into an incident in Maitland, where a man is alleged to have spat on a COVID tester on Saturday. The man was waiting for a test when he was told the clinic was closing. He became abusive and it is alleged he "spat at the employee, narrowly missing him".
