Covid-19: Number of penalty / warning notices issued by PSNI nearing 10,000-mark

Police have been providing running totals of the punishments which officers have administered throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of yesterday, a combined total of 9,907 had been handed out.

That is up from 9,712 when the previous set of figures were out last week.

Many of the notices however amount to mere cautions, rather than hitting recipients in the pocket.

For example, just under 2,200 of the penalties are actually Community Resolution Notices.

Whilst these are officially recorded by the police, they amount only to a warning, not a fine.

Other methods of dealing with suspected rule-breakers include COV2 notices; these are effectively prohibition notices issued to order people not to hold gatherings in homes or pubs.

Police can also hand out COV3s; these are known as “failure to isolate” notices, and involve fines of up to £1,000.

The most common type of notice handed out by police is the COV4, which officers have had at their disposal since last November.

In all, 3,856 of these have been handed out.

They can be used for a variety of reasons, such as being part of a gathering which is too large.

The fines involved start at £200.

Meanwhile COV5 fines can be issued to a business and/or premises for breach of the regulations, starting at £1,000 to a maximum of £10,000.

COV6 notices can also be handed out; these are £200 fines for “failure to wear a face covering without reasonable excuse”.

The figures run from Sunday through to Sunday.