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Mass Protests Over President Continue in Haiti

BBC- Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and other cities for renewed protests against the government.

They lit barricades of burning tyres and debris, demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse.

Some demonstrators were reportedly injured as police fired rubber bullets to disperse them.

The cause of the Caribbean nation’s fresh unrest is a bitter dispute over Mr Moïse’s legitimacy.

A police officer puts out a burning fire as demonstrators take part in a protest against Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 14, 2021.image copyrightReuters
image captionProtesters erected burning barricades and clashed with police

Haiti’s opposition says that Mr Moïse’s five-year term should have ended on 7 February 2021, five years to the day since his predecessor in office, Michel Martelly, stepped down.

Mr Moïse, however, insists he has one more year to serve as he did not take office until 7 February 2017.

The year-long delay was caused by allegations of electoral fraud which eventually saw the result of the 2015 election being annulled and fresh polls being held, which were won by Mr Moïse.

‘Two presidents’

Mr Moïse’s time in office has been rocky as he faced repeated accusations of corruption and was challenged by waves of often violent anti-government protests

He has been ruling by decree for the past year after his administration failed to hold scheduled legislative elections in October 2019.

On 7 February, the day his opponents said his term should have ended, he said that a “coup to overthrow his government and assassinate him” had been foiled.

Twenty-three alleged coup-plotters were detained including a senior Supreme Court judge, Ivickel Dabresil. Mr Dabresil had reportedly been chosen by the opposition to act as “provisional president” to replace Mr Moïse.

With Mr Dabresil in detention, the opposition named another Supreme Court judge, Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis, as interim leader.

With Mr Moïse refusing to step down, one Haitian news outlet reported that “Haiti has two presidents”.

Coup or counter-coup?

Mr Moïse’s opponents have denied his allegation of a “coup attempt”.

A demonstrator wearing a Spiderman mask holds photos of Supreme Court Judge Joseph Mecene Jean-Louis, as he takes part in a protest against Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 14, 2021.image copyrightReuters
image captionProtesters held up photos of Joseph Mécène Jean-Louis, whom the opposition has chosen as “interim leader”

They argue that Mr Moïse has “illegally” extended his mandate and that they were therefore justified in choosing a temporary replacement head of state.

Mr Moïse’s government called the move an illegal “usurpation” and Mr Moïse issued a decree sending the top members of the Supreme Court, including Judges Dabresil and Jean-Louis, into retirement.

As the Moïse administration strengthened the police presence in Port-au-Prince, especially around the Supreme Court, some local commentators suggested that the sitting president was carrying out his own “counter-coup” to bolster his position and suppress his opponents.

Why does the opposition want Moïse out?

The anti-Moïse opposition – which besides political parties is made up of religious and civil society groups, members of the judiciary and human rights organisations – say the Moïse administration has been chronically “irresponsible” and “corrupt”.

Jovenel Moïse speaks during the investiture ceremony of the independent advisory committee for the drafting of the new constitution at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 30, 2020.image copyrightReuters
image captionJovenel Moïse has faced a series of protests during his four years in power

They argue this has led to a surge in violent gang crime and kidnappings as well as worsening living standards in a nation where nearly 60% already live below the poverty line.

Critics blame Mr Moïse for the postponement of the legislative elections from October 2019 to October 2021, which has left Haiti without a parliament.

Opponents have also questioned Mr Moïse’s use of decree powers to push through his policies.

Mr Moïse meanwhile argues that he is committed to democracy and that he will devote his remaining 12 months in power to organising local, municipal legislative and presidential elections to be held this year.

He is also planning to hold a referendum to overhaul Haiti’s constitution, which he argues needs to be modernised.

His critics fear that his intention is to get rid of a clause which bans presidents from serving two consecutive terms in office so he can run again for the top job in September.

How is the crisis playing out on Haiti’s streets?

The escalating tension between Mr Moïse and his opponents risks prolonging Haiti’s long-running political turmoil and economic deterioration.

A demonstrator takes part in a march during a protest against Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti February 14, 2021.image copyrightReuters
image captionFresh anti-government protests erupted in Haiti on Sunday

The opposition has promised more anti-government demonstrations, even though some observers see signs of protest fatigue among a population also battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The remarkable lack of popular response to calls for mass protests in recent weeks indicates that Haitian people are tired of endless lockdowns and squabbling over power,” a US State Department spokesperson was quoted as saying recently in the media.

Nevertheless, Haitian media spoke of a “human tide” of “several thousand” anti-Moïse protesters marching in the streets of Port-au-Prince on 14 February, and similar protests were reported in Cap-Haitien, Les Cayes, and Mirebalais in the north, south and centre of the nation.

But the commander of Haiti’s armed forces has so far sided with the sitting president, saying that he backs Mr Moïse.

What reaction has there been?

The US government, the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) have all indicated support for Mr Moïse to continue governing on the understanding that he holds free and fair elections in 2021. They appear to view this as the best strategy to avoid a descent into greater chaos.

Some Haitian media commentators have criticised what they call misplaced international support for an “unconstitutional” head of state.

Some of the 14 February protesters in Port-au-Prince shouted slogans condemning what they called the “interference” of the UN and the OAS.

On the other hand, the Army chief of the Dominican Republic, Julio Ernesto Florián Perez, reported on Monday that over 11 000 Haitians had been arrested trying to cross the border thus far in February illegally.

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Biden Admin. Set to Tackle Gun Violence, Laws

White House officials met last week with several gun violence prevention groups as they weigh how to move forward on an issue that has stymied Democrats for years.

The White House says President Biden is “personally committed” to action on an issue he has tackled many times in the past. Less than a month into the new administration, Biden officials are meeting with advocates backing reforms that Democrats have been pushing for in Congress, like strengthening background checks.

However, Americans’ views on guns may be even more divided than the last time Biden confronted the issue. A November Gallup poll found support for stricter gun laws is at its lowest level since 2016.

But anti-gun violence groups still see momentum. Brady, Giffords, Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action met virtually on Wednesday with Susan Rice, the head of the Domestic Policy Council, and Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to the president.

Officials familiar with the meeting said Rice and Richmond signaled the White House was prepared to use multiple avenues to try to curb gun violence, including executive action, though the administration has yet to roll out any specific proposals.

“I think everything is on the table. I think the White House is certainly supportive of Congress doing their part. I think there are things we’d like to see happen through legislation. … But certainly there is a role for executive action,” said Adzi Vokhiwa, director of federal affairs at Giffords, an anti-gun violence advocacy group.

The meeting comes as gun sales are on the rise across the U.S., which has been attributed to the concerns that Biden will act on gun control and amid fear and uncertainty around the pandemic and protests over racial injustice.

Sunday was the third anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla. Rice and Richmond held a call Thursday with most of the families of the victims of the shooting, a White House official said, and listened to stories about their loved ones and work they’ve pursued since the shooting.

Biden, who visited Parkland to comfort victims’ families in 2018, pledged during his presidential campaign to take numerous actions to try to curb gun violence. He vowed to pass legislation banning the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and buy back the ones already in circulation. The president’s campaign website also said he would “enact universal background check legislation.”

“This meeting provided more evidence that the Biden Administration is committed to being the strongest we’ve ever seen on gun safety,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, of Wednesday’s meeting. “With Covid making gun violence worse and armed extremists literally holding our democracy at gunpoint, the time for action is now — and we fully expect to see it soon.”

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, also released a statement on the White House meeting, saying it confirmed that gun safety is a top priority for the administration.

“We look forward to working with the administration to save lives and stop gun violence, and we’re confident that we will see executive and legislative action in the near future,” she said.

The White House is still staffing up and has yet to nominate a head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which enforces gun laws. Both are a sign that the administration is still some time away from formally putting anything forward on guns, sources said.

Biden has repeatedly been involved in efforts to pass stricter gun laws dating back to his time in the Senate. He helped pass the Brady Bill in 1993, which implemented the modern background check system that advocates are now pushing to reform, and he helped pass the original assault weapons ban.

Through executive orders, Biden could change or expand the definition of who is in the business of selling guns, prioritize funding for community violence prevention programs and eliminate “ghost guns” by defining what constitutes a gun, according to gun control advocates.

The term ghost guns refers to guns available for purchase, typically without a background check or a serial number, that are not fully finished or may have a missing part.

Momentum has repeatedly hit a wall in Congress, even as mass shootings become commonplace in the United States. Congress failed to pass stronger gun laws after the Sandy Hook shooting, when Biden was vice president, and initial optimism fell by the wayside following back-to-back massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, in 2019.

While Democrats control the House, the party would need all 50 members in the Senate to rally around gun legislation and be joined by at least 10 Republican senators to overcome the legislative filibuster. A bill proposed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) after the Sandy Hook shooting only garnered 54 votes.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), an active voice on gun control ever since the Sandy Hook shooting in his home state, told The Hill he plans to introduce background check legislation “in the upcoming weeks” and is committed to getting a bipartisan bill passed in this Congress.

“President Biden and his administration are clearly committed to signing commonsense gun violence prevention legislation into law and taking executive action to save lives and make our communities safer. Two years ago, we got pretty darn close to striking a bipartisan deal to expand background checks that I believe would have passed on the floor if [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell put it up for a vote,” Murphy said.

The Democratic-led House last Congress passed control gun legislation, but those bills never received votes in the GOP-controlled Senate.

That bill, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, is aimed at strengthening background checks for gun purchases and passed the House on Feb. 27, 2019. A day later, the House approved the Enhanced Background Checks Act, which would close the so-called Charleston loophole, giving federal investigators more time to do background checks.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who authored the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, has not yet reintroduced it this Congress. But the bill is expected soon.

“The White House is definitely committed to gun violence prevention and Mike’s top priority on this issue is the Bipartisan Background Checks Act. We are still actively working with leadership and advocates on timing of that bill,” a Thompson aide said.

Assault weapon ban legislation to prohibit the sale of semi-automatic rifles and pistols with certain military-style features was also introduced last Congress by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.).

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), another vocal gun rights advocate, noted that passing background checks in the House last Congress was the first legislative action to prevent gun violence in decades.

“While the bill to expand background checks received bipartisan support, it was unfortunately blocked by Mitch McConnell in the U.S. Senate. Now, with a new Congress and White House, I know that action to prevent gun violence remains a top priority for President Biden and Democrats in Congress,” Kildee told The Hill.

Democrats are also looking to take advantage of the weakened National Rifle Association (NRA). The once powerful pro-gun lobbying group filed for bankruptcy last month following a lawsuit that alleged it violated New York state law governing nonprofit organizations.

“It will be up to these millions of law-abiding gun owners, and millions of NRA members, to make their voices heard in opposition to any infringement upon their constitutional rights,” the group wrote in response to comments from White House press secretary Jen Psaki last week that Biden “would love to see action on additional gun safety measures.”

Democrats point to public polling to argue that basic actions intended to limit gun violence, such as universal background checks, are overwhelmingly popular.

Still, former President Trump’s vow to protect his supporters’ Second Amendment rights was one of his reliable applause lines on the trail in 2020. The Gallup poll found that only 22 percent of Republicans favor stricter laws for gun sales, the lowest percentage in 20 years. Conservatives are likely to ardently object to any effort that is perceived as taking guns away from Americans and use it to fuel their base heading into the 2022 midterm elections.

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COVID Latest Feb.16: US Hospitals Running Short of Supplies, World Stats

Hospitals around the country say their supplies of crucial medical supplies including personal protective equipment (PPE) are lower than ever as demand for different items has soared to an all-time high.

Data detailing usage rates of PPE and other supplies analyzed by Premier, a company that consults for health care systems, revealed that usage of supplies for COVID-19 testing and treatment has reached the highest rate seen since the pandemic began last year.

The data, gathered between May 2020 through January 2021, was supplied by 50 health care systems across the nation that are representative of the company’s larger population of clients.

PPE shortages first emerged last March, with officials in several states warning that they did not have enough supplies to adequately protect health care workers from being infected themselves.

Among the items seeing the highest demand as a result of surging COVID-19 hospitalizations through January include sterile water, which is used in many injections including the Remdesivir treatment former President Trump received as part of his COVID-19 treatment regimen at Walter Reed Medical Center last year.

Usage of sterile water is up 350 percent from rates seen last May, according to Premier’s data, and hospital inventories have dropped an average of 50 percent.

Pipette tips and micro pipettes, used during the COVID-19 laboratory testing process, are also seeing higher demand than last year. Usage of pipette tips spiked to a more than 100 percent increase over last May during the holiday season in November and December before falling slightly in January, though it still remains at a far higher rate than hospitals reported early last year.

Hospital systems are also reporting these supplies much harder to find as of January, with the average delivery time for pipette tip orders jumping from a few days to nearly a month.

Some shortages were the result of the medical equivalent of the wave of panic-buying that swept U.S. stores early last year as the first lockdown measures were announced by various states, Premier’s data found.

“What was correlated … was the request for supplies and the stock market volatility index,” a Premier spokesperson said. “In other words, buying was more linked to perceived, rather than real, need. And even the perception of need is enough to trigger panic-buying that leads to shortages.”

The challenges faced by hospitals trying to acquire necessary supplies for COVID-19 testing and treatment extends to the efforts of states around the country to administer COVID-19 vaccines as well.

Premier representatives told The Hill that hospital systems are finding it difficult to acquire special syringes called “low-dead-space needles” required to extract the sixth dose from vials of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a process not possible with normal syringes and further complicated by confusion over whether all the syringes provided by the federal government in vaccine ancillary kits fit the low-dead-space description.

In an emailed statement, an HHS spokesperson told The Hill that 80 percent of the syringes contained in new ancillary kits the federal government began issuing on Jan. 20 were low-dead-space needles, while the remaining 20 percent could not be used to extract the last dose from Pfizer vaccine vials.

“What has become a more pressing issue for our members, even more so than improving access to the low-dead-space syringes, is the need for vaccine,” a Premier spokesperson added to The Hill. “Despite increases in overall distributions to jurisdictions around the country, our members are often reporting steady or declining allocations of vaccine that is making it very difficult for them to continue or expand vaccination efforts in the communities that they serve.”

When asked what federal officials could do to respond to supply chain shortages, the company’s representatives pointed approvingly to a recent update of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines that advise Americans to avoid purchasing N95 masks as an example. Urging Americans to buy such masks could create a surge of demand, complicating existing shortages.

“While N95 supply is improving, the demand for highly protective masks has surged twelvefold during the pandemic, and Premier data shows that N95 usage increased 500 percent between July 2020 and January 2021,” a company spokesperson noted to The Hill.

The company is also urging President Biden to form a public-private advisory council consisting of manufacturers, physicians, pharmacists and others to identify supplies critical to COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccine administration to ensure the availability of such supplies going forward. The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

The Trump administration faced criticism throughout 2020 from Democratic lawmakers for not taking greater action via the Defense Production Act (DPA) to address shortages in medical supplies related to the pandemic. The Biden administration announced in January that it would use the DPA in a more aggressive fashion, and at the time identified roughly a dozen items including N95 masks that were in short supply.

“The team will work with the states and the manufacturers to ensure that we’re using the DPA as aggressively as needed to accelerate the supply of the vaccine,” said Bechara Choucair, Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine coordinator, in a statement last month.

===================================================

Vaccines & Variants: The makers of COVID-19 vaccines are working out how to tweak their recipes just in case the shots need an update against worrisome virus mutations.

But changing the mix is just one step. Harder is deciding if the coronavirus has mutated enough to update vaccines — and if so, how. Flu vaccines are reformulated just about every year, and authorities are looking to that system as a blueprint.

“It’s not really something you can sort of flip a switch, do overnight,” cautioned an expert who directs a World Health Organization flu center from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Viruses always mutate, and one key step will be better tracking to target only the variants that really threaten the vaccines’ effectiveness, Lauran Neergaard reports.

Grocery Workers: As panicked Americans cleared supermarkets of toilet paper and food last spring, grocery employees gained recognition as among the most indispensable of the pandemic’s front-line workers. A year later, most of those workers are waiting for vaccines, with little clarity about when their turns may come. The chaotic U.S. vaccine rollout has resulted in a patchwork of policies that differ from state-to-state and even county-to-county. The result has been an inconsistent approach to vaccinating low-paid essential workers who are exposed  to hundreds of customers each day. Alexandra Olson, Dee-Ann Durbin and Anne D’ Innocenzio report.

Muted Mardi Gras: Fat Tuesday has arrived in New Orleans. But officials in the tourism-dependent city aren’t hoping for big crowds. All Mardi Gras parades are canceled and bars have been closed since Friday. Even take-out drinks are forbidden. And officials put restrictions on crowds in the historic French Quarter, which is usually the scene of huge gatherings, Kevin McGill reports.

India’s dramatic fall in virus cases leaves experts stumped; South African health care workers eager for first J&J vaccines; WHO authorizes AstraZeneca’s shot 

When the pandemic gripped India, there were fears it would sink the fragile health system of the world’s second-most populous country.

Infections and deaths were soaring in a country where social distancing was not easily practiced and unsustainable lockdowns impoverished millions.

But infections began to plummet, and now the country is reporting only about 11,000 new cases a day, compared to a peak of nearly 100,000.

The reasons for the decline are unclear. Experts have suggested some areas of the country may have reached herd immunity or Indians may have some pre-existing immunity. Krutika Pathi and Aniruddha Ghosal have this story from New Delhi

The government has also credited mask-wearing for reducing the spread of the virus. Determining what’s behind the drop in infections could help authorities control the virus in the country, which has reported nearly 11 million cases and over 155,000 deaths. While the caseload is the second worst in the world after the U.S., the reported death toll is less than that suffered by America, Brazil or Mexico.

South Africa Vaccines: Health care workers at the Ndlovu Care Group in a rural part of the country, from where Andrew Meldrum reports, are among those eagerly awaiting the first jabs of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is being rolled out to them starting this week. South Africa’s inoculation campaign has been disrupted by a last-minute change. Officials have decided to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, even though it is not approved for general use anywhere in the world, after a small study raised questions about how effective the AstraZeneca vaccine is against the variant found in South Africa.

“So many people, I test them and within days they have passed away,” says one South African nurse. “I want protection.” Many people are eager to be vaccinated in the nation, which has seen nearly 1.5 million confirmed cases and more than 47,000 deaths.

WHO AstraZeneca: The World Health Organization has granted an emergency authorization to the vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University. The move should allow the U.N. health agency’s partners to ship millions of doses to countries as part of a U.N.-backed program to tame the pandemic. It is the second vaccine green-lighted by WHO after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved in December. The AstraZeneca vaccine has been licensed in over 50 nations but some African health experts worry it may be less effective against a virus variant first seen in South Africa, Maria Cheng reports.

France’s Youth in Despair: The long lines of young people waiting for food aid that stretch through Paris neighborhoods several times a week are a dramatic symbol of the toll the pandemic has taken on France’s youth. The economic fallout has weighed particularly heavily on young people in France — and their woes have been compounded by disruptions to their studies and social interactions. Nearly a quarter of young people in the nation can’t find work, and many university students now rely on food aid. A hotline devoted to students has seen a surge in calls, and young people have streamed into psychiatric wards. As President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged, “it’s hard to be 20” in coronavirus times. Sylvie Corbet reports.

More from Around the World: 

  • Britain’s newly established quarantine hotels have received their first guests as the government tries to prevent new variants derailing its fast-moving vaccination drive. Under the new rules, people arriving in England from 33 high-risk countries must stay in designated hotel rooms for 10 days at their own expense.
  • The World Health Organization says coronavirus case numbers are stabilizing in parts of the Middle East. But the organization says the situation remains critical with more than a dozen countries reporting cases of new variants.
  • New Zealand has reported no new virus cases in the community for a second straight day. That raises hopes that a three-day lockdown in Auckland, the nation’s first in six months, will be lifted Wednesday.
COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
Last updated: February 16, 2021, 10:22 GMT
Graphs – Countries – News

Coronavirus Cases:

109,735,577

Deaths:

2,420,383

Recovered:

84,299,544
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

Latest News

February 16 (GMT)

Updates

  • 105 new cases in Nepal
  • 337 new cases and 1 new death in Oman [source]
  • 5,178 new cases and 196 new deaths in Poland [source]
  • 13,233 new cases and 459 new deaths in Russia [source]
  • 3,098 new cases and 450 new deaths in Mexico [source]

 

The post COVID Latest Feb.16: US Hospitals Running Short of Supplies, World Stats appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Boy killed after being hit by bus outside school in SA

A 13-year-old boy has been killed after he was hit by a bus outside a South Australian high school.

The accident happened at Balaklava, north of Adelaide, about 3.20pm (3.50pm AEDT) today.

The bus driver has been taken to hospital to be treated for shock.

Child killed Balaklava South Australia

9News understands several students witnessed the incident, with one calling Triple Zero.

A police investigation is underway.

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Former monk jailed over drug-driving crash that killed couple

A man convicted of killing a Victorian couple when his car ploughed into them while he was high on ice has been jailed.

Fresh out of the Thai military and then a monastery, Baramee Janorat relapsed into ice addiction when he returned to Melbourne from Thailand.

The consequence of the 24-year-old's drug use was catastrophic for Bruce and Lyn Anderson who perished in the horrific crash.

"You not only abruptly and violently brought an end to their lives … you shattered the lives of many others who cared for them," Judge Rosemary Carlin said in the County Court today.

Today, the former Buddhist monk was jailed for 12 years for killing the grandparents at Bulla in October 2019.

The couple was driving home from a medical appointment in the city to their farm at Baynton in Central Victoria where their son Craig was waiting for them to arrive home.

READ MORE: Police storm gym operating in Melbourne during lockdown

Anderson couple

Janorat was high on ice and sleep-deprived, screaming abuse at other drivers with his middle finger out the window.

He crossed onto the wrong side of Sunbury Road and slammed head-on into the Andersons' car.

The 68 and 69-year-old grandparents died at the scene.

The court heard today the victims' adult children have been forced to sell their parent's prized 6th generation farm.

Janorat, a plasterer from Melton West, survived with only an abdominal injury.

Witnesses found a loaded syringe lying underneath his hand.

After causing the double fatal crash, the killer driver vowed to remain abstinent from drugs, but a few months later he was caught smoking cannabis and his bail was revoked.

READ MORE: Victorians can expect 'favourable' changes to lockdown restrictions

He has been in custody ever since.

"The knowledge of what you have done will endure long after that sentence is over," Judge Carlin said.

Janorat's parole period is seven years and two months.

He has spent 176 days in custody, which will count towards his sentence.

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Police storm Melbourne gym open illegally in lockdown

Dozens of police have stormed a gym in Melbourne's north operating under Victoria's lockdown, with three men arrested.

Late this afternoon officers swarmed on the Campbellfield gym, open against the Chief Health Officer's directives during lockdown.

"We can't afford to close the gym so we've been trading as per normal during the lockdown," Al Pope, part-owner of the gym told 9News.

READ MORE: Victoria set to overhaul hotel quarantine system

"Today the police came in numbers and closed us down and arrested my partner."

Mr Pope said about 175 people came through for a casual session today, plus normal members, and no masks were worn.

"I did a hard year last year … simply can't afford to close," Mr Pope said.

Police forced people out of the facility after patrons refused to leave and stayed until it closed.

READ MORE: AstraZeneca vaccine approved for use in Australia

Mr Pope said police had issued fines but he had no intention of paying.

"As part of Operation Sentinel patrols, police attended a gym on Sydney Road this afternoon following reports the gym was in operation and in breach of the directions issued by the Chief Health Officer," Victoria Police said in a statement.

"Three men were arrested at the scene all of which will be issued penalty notices in relation to breaching CHO directions."

Businesses face fines of up to $10,000 under current lockdown rules.

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Dingo spotted in Sydney suburb after escaping from sanctuary

A dingo named Eggy is on the loose after having escaped his Sydney sanctuary earlier this month.

Residents in the suburb of Glenmore Park, near Penrith, reported seeing Eggy nonchalantly walking the streets.

The operators of a nearby sanctuary along with the local council are attempting to track the wily dingo down and return him home.

Residents have been posting their sightings online in an attempt to help authorities come into contact with Eggy.

Anyone who spots him is advised not to approach him but rather to contact the Dingo Den in Sydney.