Police will be "out in force" on some of Sydney's most popular beaches as a senior cop warns exercise is no excuse for breaking social-distancing rules.
The NSW Police Force announced the crackdown on Sunday night, announcing "high-visibility patrols" along metropolitan Sydney and coastal areas, including popular beaches such as Bondi and Manly.
The crackdown comes amid heightened commentary online that coastal areas such as Bondi are not being policed as heavily as south-west Sydney, despite being named as an original hotspot of the latest COVID-19 cluster.
READ MORE: Police slam people flouting COVID-19 safe rules in New South Wales
9News footage showed the message around outdoor mask wearing appeared to be getting through at the Mona Vale Markets and as customers waited for coffee in Bronte.
But maskless crowds at Bondi, including those exercising, provoked frustration from some.
Earlier this month, NSW Health told 9News that not a single case of COVID-19 transmission in the state had been confirmed to have occurred outdoors since the onset of the pandemic.
https://twitter.com/9NewsSyd/status/1416672709568761857
The operation, part of a broader COVID-19 policing ramp-up sparked by Saturday's announcement of further restrictions, includes water, traffic, transport and mounted police and more.
Metropolitan field operations Deputy Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon said exercise didn't override social-distancing requirements.
"The new health order requires that people in a number of circumstances must provide evidence of their name and address if requested by police to ensure they are complying with the order," he warned.
"I ask people to continue to work with police and carry identification if away from their home and remind them that it is now a requirement to carry face masks whenever away from their homes and wear them when appropriate.
"In order to achieve community safety, police will not hesitate to enforce the public health order if they discover people are not complying with them."
Earlier in the day, Deputy Police Commissioner Gary Worboys said police had issued 240 infringement notices in the 24 hours before Sunday morning's COVID-19 press conference.
READ MORE: Rapid COVID-19 tests under trial in south-west Sydney
Those fines came from 43 different police districts, including Newcastle, and prompted Mr Worboys to warn there was a particularly low tolerance for rule-breaking in regional NSW.
"When I talk to people and look at various posts on social media, there is a strong sense that country people simply will not tolerate this sort of behaviour and they feel it puts them at great risk," he said.
"I am sure as it moves through the system that people truly hope this sends a really good message, in terms of the court outcome, to anyone else that wants to participate in this sort of behaviour and put regional New South Wales at risk from the virus."
Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott Slammed a "small minority" of people who continued to ignore coronavirus restrictions, including seven people who "went out to play soccer yesterday in direct contradiction to the health orders and didn't even have a soccer ball".
The comments and announcement of a beaches crackdown came after police warned they would be ramping up their presence on all "major arterial roads out of Sydney" to stop Sydneysiders fleeing to the regions.