A man in the Australian city of Perth escaped mandatory quarantine at a hotel by lowering a rope made of tied sheets down from a fourth-floor window.
Man ties sheets together to escape hotel quarantine on fourth floor
After arriving in the west coast city on an interstate flight from Brisbane, the man had his application for entry rejected under the state’s strict COVID-19 border entry rules aimed at stopping the virus entering from other parts of the country.
The man was told to leave the state within 48 hours and taken to a hotel for temporary quarantine, but just before 1:00 a.m. Tuesday he “climbed out of a fourth-floor bedroom window using a rope made of bed sheets and fled the area.” Western Australian police said.
Police arrested the man across town about eight hours later and charged him with failing to comply with an instruction and providing “false / misleading information.”
They did not disclose the man’s identity, except to say he was 39 years old and tested negative for the virus, nor did they give a reason for his alleged actions.
Australia has recorded far fewer coronavirus cases and deaths than many other developed countries, in part because it closed domestic and internal borders and imposed mandatory quarantine in hotels for anyone arriving from overseas or, during outbreaks, from another state.
However, the policy has brought with it a series of escapes, including a woman accused this month of climbing over two balconies and kicking in a door to evade quarantine at the northeastern regional center in Cairns.
