TWO bushwalkers who got lost in the Mount Coree area will receive fines for breaching COVID-19 public health directions.

Police and emergency services were alerted to the lost bushwalkers, a 28-year-old man and 24-year-old woman, after they called triple zero at about 4.25pm.

While the bushwalkers were able to provide police with their location coordinates, due to the thickness of the bushland, Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel were deployed, to locate them, assisted by ACT State Emergency Service (SES) personnel.

They were located at about 8.20pm and were guided from the area by the SAR team.

Police say both of the hikers will receive fines for breaching COVID-19 public health directions, as their hike was for more than the one hour duration currently permitted for outdoor exercise.

Officer in charge ACT road policing, Insp Donna Hofmeier said the incident diverted police away from other important work as road policing officers were called to assist the hikers.

“These people went looking for a loophole in the COVID-19 regulations and will receive a fine for breaching the public health directions,” she said.

“The covid rules in the ACT are clear, they allow for one hour of outdoor exercise a day. These people had planned a 12-kilometre hike, which would obviously take more than an hour to complete.

“They were insufficiently equipped for it, making it almost inevitable things would go wrong. Once they called for help, considerable police and emergency service resources were required to locate them and get them to safety.

“I hope this serves as a lesson, not just to these hikers, but to the whole community at this time.”