Coronavirus: Police issue 210 tougher Covid fines in past week
The PSNI has issued 210 of the new, tougher Covid penalties of £200 since they came into effect six days ago.
On Thursday of last week, 'COV4' fines replaced the previous minimum penalty notice of £60 for breaches of Covid-19 regulations. The executive agreed on 8 October to raise the minimum fine to £200 and fines on conviction up to £10,000. However, their introduction was delayed until 12 November because of a problem with printing the notices. Since then, the majority of the new notices (77) were issued in Belfast, followed by 48 in the Derry City and Strabane council area and 41 in the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon area. None were issued in the Causeway Coast and Glens area, while just one £200 notice was issued in Fermanagh and Omagh. Since March, the PSNI has issued a total of 2,101 penalty notices and 48 £1,000 fines for failure to isolate. There have been 1,184 Community Resolution Notices (CRN) issued since March. CRNs are not Covid-specific notices but can be issued to anyone over the age of 10. They are designed to act as warnings and do not incur any fines. The latest figures also show that 93 commercial premises and 487 private dwellings were issued prohibition notices by police (580 have been handed out in total). The PSNI has also said that there are currently 509 officers or members of staff absent due to Covid-19, 429 of whom are self-isolating.