A person in their 60s broke a window and escaped from an Auckland isolation hotel last night, the fourth escape from a facility in a week.
Air Commodore Darryn Webb, Head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine, said police are investigating after the person left the Waipuna Hotel in Mt Wellington late last night.
They are now under guard at the facility.
Webb said the individual tested negative for their day-3 test, after arriving in New Zealand on July 4. They are symptom free.
The Covid-19 health risk has been assessed as very low by authorities.
Webb said the person broke and climbed out of a window in their room and climbed perimeter fencing to get away, and were last seen at the facility at about 11pm.
"They were picked up by police at about 12.15am and immediately returned to the facility where they were put under guard. The individual had allegedly knocked on three residents' doors while outside the facility. The first property did not answer. The second property called 111. At the third property the individual apparently spoke to a couple."
On Tuesday, a man in his 30s escaped managed isolation from Auckland's Stamford Plaza. He spent 20 minutes at Countdown in Victoria St where he went to buy toiletries.
The man, who is a New Zealand citizen and arrived from New Delhi on July 3, will be summoned to appear in court at a later date charged under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act. He left the facility for 70 minutes in total and will face either six months imprisonment or a $4000 fine.
On Thursday, a man in his 50s fled the Distinction Hotel in the Hamilton suburb of Te Rapa to visit the liquor store about 500m away. He left the hotel after cutting through a 1.8m fence around the facility about 6.30pm, and left for about half an hour.
And last Saturday, a 43-year-old woman who climbed a fence to escape from a managed isolation facility in Auckland was charged under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act. The woman arrived from Brisbane on June 27 and returned a negative Covid-19 test three days later.
4 comments
Lock the door!
Posted on 11-07-2020 14:45 | By Equality
Why not stop this immediately - by locking them in their rooms! Australia does it! We are too 'kind'! Need some common sense!
@ Equality
Posted on 11-07-2020 19:44 | By Yadick
Agree. This is getting RIDICULOUS. They know what it's about or they wouldn't have come home. Bring in the Army to secure the areas.
Disturbing
Posted on 12-07-2020 08:22 | By Slim Shady
It is very worrying the way the regime is handling this. There are clearly going to be some people coming home who have medical issues around mental health and addictions. They have committed no crime but appear to be imprisoned and their issues ignored. MoH knows this but they are not in charge anymore. We have Frauline Woods & Commandent Webb clicking their boots and treating people like POWs, all encouraged by dimwits who want to see "escapees" named and shamed and run through the streets so they can throw rotten vegetables at them. It is disgusting and looking more like China or North Korea every day.
A dilemma.
Posted on 12-07-2020 14:40 | By morepork
We need to have people isolated for a time but we can't put them in "prison". They are NOT criminals and yet they ARE a danger to the rest of us. Some of them (as Slim Shady noted) may have medical problems that will require special treatment. The answer is not to lock them down in their rooms (as Equality suggested) but to impress on them the seriousness of the situation and what the current law requires. Anyone in quarantine who is struggling with it mentally or physically should have access to appropriate help. "Don't go over the wall", raise the fact that you need help. We are NOT "too kind" and Australia is not a good example; we need to treat our people with proper respect but ensure that the isolation demands are met and people who break the law will be dealt with.
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