Official says Australians refusing to wear face masks "disturbing"

Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Nick Coatsworth has censured Australians who refuse to comply with mandatory face mask rules, saying on Monday morning that reports of people refusing to wear masks in Melbourne were "disturbing."

   It comes after a video of a woman refusing to wear a mask in a Melbourne hardware store went viral on social media.

   The video shows the woman accusing a store manager of discrimination for requesting that she wear a mask.

   Face masks have been made mandatory in the Melbourne metropolitan area as Victoria tries to contain the spread of a second wave of COVID-19.

   "It's such disturbing footage," Coatsworth told Seven Network television. "We've really got to get real here and just have a little bit of self-control."

   "This is something we can all do. This is a partnership between government, between community, between each other," said Coatsworth.

   Coatsworth also called for planned Black Lives Matter protests in Sydney to be called off because of the virus.

   The New South Wales (NSW) Supreme Court on Sunday granted police the right to prohibit the rally, finding that it would breach COVID-19 public health orders, while organizer Paddy Gibsonhas said the protests will go ahead regardless of police intervention.

   Coatsworth said that people had the right to protest but said it should be postponed.

   "What I would say to Paddy and others is that if it wasn't the time before, it is definitely not the time now," he said, adding that there were unlinked cases of community transmission in New South Wales and gathering together is not safe.