How a wild, illegal house party in Sydney's south-east led to $9,000 in fines as the super spreader event becomes the source of 81 Covid cases

Nine partygoers who attended an illegal lockdown-flouting gathering in Sydney's east have been fined $1,000 each.

Earlier this week NSW Police launched strike force Travelstop to investigate rumours of the illegal parties in the Maroubra area.

On Wednesday the team handed out their first fines - nine men aged between 18 and 24 who attended a party at Malabar Headland on Friday July 23. 

Whether the men are linked to other gatherings in the area is now being investigated with an illegal beach party in Maroubra on August 14 of particular interest after it was believed to have caused a sudden spike in cases.  

The party is believed to have started in Lurline Bay and continued in an apartment building in South Maroubra. 

Twenty of the estimated 60 guests at the superspreader gathering have since tested positive and they have already infected a further 61 close contacts.

After Covid case number in Sydney's east began to surge in August, NSW Health authorities have also launched a Pfizer vaccine drive targetting the area. 

NSW Health fears the fallout from an illegal beach party in Maroubra on August 14 is behind a sudden spike in cases in the Randwick area

Over the weekend the South Eastern Sydney Local Health District pushed locals aged 16-49 and authorised workers aged 16-59 to get vaccinated at a hub in Brighton-Le-Sands.

The move sparked speculation the area had been prioritised for extra Pfizer jabs to counter the surging local numbers.

But NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard dismissed the rumours on Monday and said the initiative was to use up doses from cancelled appointments before they expired. 

'Southeast Sydney put out a tweet yesterday just letting people know that they had some viable vaccine because there were a number of no shows,' he said at Monday's daily Covid briefing.

'They're just making sure, as all the agencies do, that the vaccine would be offered and taken up.'

He added: 'The main message here is that our frontline staff who are out there vaccinating want you to come in and get a jab in your arm.

'They will make sure that if they have a vaccine because somebody has failed to show then they make sure they get the message out, and that's what they're doing.'

South Eastern Sydney Local Health District said the vaccination hub was in response to the spreading cluster from the Maroubra beach party.

Most of the guests at the party are believed to have been from outside the area, with many from the neighbouring Bayside LGA.  

'The criteria has been expanded as the Randwick postcode overlaps the Bayside LGA which is one of the 12 LGAs of concern,' said a SESLHD spokesman. 

'There have also been 81 cases associated with a gathering on Saturday 14 August in Maroubra, which is within the Randwick area.' 

Twenty of an estimated 60 guests at the Maroubra beach party on August 14 have since tested positive and they have already infected a further 61 close contacts. (Pictured, three people exercising at Maroubra beach last week)

Randwick council area currently has 130 active cases - including 52 in Maroubra alone - with neighbouring Bayside on 236, City of Sydney 185, and Inner West also on 185, while Camden currently has 193 active cases.

By contrast, Woollahra council area - where the current outbreak began on June 16 when a Bondi limo driver was infected ferrying air crew from the airport - has just 19. 

Canterbury-Bankstown and Blacktown LGAs currently remain the worst affected LGAs with 2788 and 2016 cases respectively.

But numbers in Penrith and Campbelltown areas have surged over the past few days too, with 1038 and 532 cases there now. 

Overall NSW had another record number of cases on Monday, with 1290 new cases reported and four more deaths - a man in his 50s, a woman in her 60s and two men in their 70s. 

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian admitted on Monday that some LGAs could be added to the areas of concern, while some could be freed from the stricter lockdown restrictions.

'There are a couple of local government areas that we're considering taking out of those areas of concern,' she said at Monday morning's briefing.

'A few local government areas have had a reduction or stabilisation in case numbers with very high rates of vaccination. 

'These are the opportunities we have to look at and that obviously depends on the health advice.

'Also on the converse, there could be areas where there is a spillover of cases so we just ask everybody to be on guard.'