Woman tries to sneak out of isolation twice

AUCKLAND: A woman is likely to face police charges after attempting to abscond twice in two days from a managed isolation facility in Auckland.

About 1am yesterday, onsite security intercepted a woman attempting to abscond from the Grand Millennium Hotel through a fire exit.

‘‘As a result of police speaking to the woman and making inquiries it was established that the woman had absconded the previous night on October 8 . . . and returned at 3.09am,’’ said head of managed isolation and quarantine Darryn Webb.

Normally all fire exits that were not able to be monitored by CCTV, or that were not alarmed, were monitored by security guards stationed near them.

‘‘Unfortunately a local decision was taken which meant that those guards were elsewhere on that evening,’’ Mr Webb said.

‘‘Police are continuing to review CCTV footage to account for her movements during this time and charges are likely to be laid.’’

CCTV shows the woman walked in and around the inner city.

Yesterday morning she was intercepted by security at the facility as she attempted to abscond for a second time.

She was swabbed for Covid19 yesterday morning and tested negative.

The woman arrived from Dubai on October 7. She also tested negative on October 1 in a preflight test and was cleared to fly. Her next test was scheduled for today, which would coincide with her routine day 3 test.

A spokesman at the Grand Millennium declined to comment and referred media queries to the Ministry of Health.

Mr Webb said a public health assessment was ongoing while interviews and investigations continued in order to identify the nature of any contact with individuals outside the managed isolation facility.

‘‘However, it is reassuring that testing prior to arrival and also this morning is negative and that she is asymptomatic. Standard Covid19 procedures were followed by police and staff who were in contact with the individual.

‘‘A permanent security presence has been established outside her room to ensure she remains at the facility.’’

Mr Webb said that while absconding incidents were rare, ‘‘we treat them extremely seriously’’.

‘‘While I’m confident that we have strong security measures in place, these hotels are not prisons and this individual has wilfully absconded once, and then attempted to repeat this the following night when she was caught by security.

‘‘There are rules in place for every single returnee and we expect people to follow these during their 14 day stay in managed isolation. This is so they can return to the community safely, while ensuring the safety of all New Zealanders.’’

There had been nearly 60,000 people through managed isolation and quarantine, and only 10 incidents involving 14 people absconding from managed isolation, he said. — The New Zealand Herald