A Hillsong "summercamp" has been ordered to "immediately stop singing and dancing" after videos on social media showed COVID rules being breached.
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Camp attendees were seen singing and dancing without masks despite a recent public health order banning those activities at music festivals, pubs and clubs.
Videos posted to the Hillsong Youth Instagram on Wednesday and Thursday from the Wildlife Summercamp being held at Newcastle's Glenrock Scout Camp showed people playing music on a stage to a large crowd of attendees singing and dancing under an outdoor tent.
The videos were slammed on social media as "double standards" after upcoming music festivals have been cancelled due to a public health order introduced this week.
Hillsong denied the event was a music festival, but NSW Health said on Thursday afternoon it had requested "Hillsong immediately stop singing and dancing" at the event.
"Singing and dancing at a major recreation facility is in breach of the Public Health Order," Health said in a statement.
"While the Order does not apply to religious services, it does apply to major recreation facilities and this event is clearly in breach of both the spirit and intent of the Order, which is in place to help keep the community safe," Health Minister Brad Hazzard said.
Hillsong said the social media videos reflected "a few minutes" of the "outdoor Christian services" component of the camp, of which singing is only a "small part".
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said singing and dancing activities at large events presented a high risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The public health order forced the cancellation of the sold-out Grapevine Gathering at Roche Estate this Saturday, which had already been postponed from October.
A statement from Hillsong said the Summercamp events were "annual high school aged youth camps, and are not similar to a music festival in any way".
"Our camps involve primarily outdoor recreational activities including sports and games," the statement said. "We follow strict COVID procedures and adhere to government guidelines.
"Outdoor Christian services are held during the camp but these are only a small part of the program, and any singing is only a small part of each service (a video circulating on social media today reflects a few minutes of this part of the program)."
The statement said all students and workers undertook rapid antigen testing before attending, face masks were compulsory during travel on buses to and from camp and for workers serving food, a deep clean of the facilities was undertaken between the two camps, sanitation stations were provided, paramedics and testing capabilities were on site 24 hours per day and isolation protocols were developed for positive cases or close contacts, and where required all attendee details are registered for contact tracing.