COVIDIOT’S ESCAPE

Authorities scramble after Covid-positive man escapes

TASMANIAN contact tracers were left scrambling on Wednesday after a Covid-positive man escaped hotel quarantine and was found in a house in Hobart’s northern suburbs.

The 31-year-old NSW man did not have permission to enter Tasmania and was due to be sent home but instead absconded from the Travelodge before visiting two Tasmanian households.

TASMANIA is once again on high alert for coronavirus after a man tried to sneak into the state illegally and then spent time in the community after escaping from hotel quarantine, before testing positive to Covid-19.

The 31-year-old New South Wales man — presumed to have been carrying the highly-contagious Delta strain of the virus — was apprehended by police in Hobart’s outer northern suburbs on Tuesday afternoon.

He tested positive to Covid-19 on Wednesday, the state’s second case in a fortnight.

The man was then taken by police in a divisional van to Hobart’s Fountainside Accommodation which is designated to manage positive cases that do not require treatment in hospital.

He was not wearing a mask when he left the police vehicle.

It was then revealed on Wednesday night the man had spent time at two households, with Public Health authorities identifying and managing people in those homes.

Contact tracers had been scrambling to determine the man’s movements during the period he was out in the community.

Bridgewater locals have expressed concern the man was in their community.

Meanwhile, toilets in the Hobart Airport arrivals area’s male bathroom and a Jetstar flight JQ715 from Melbourne to Hobart on Monday night have been listed as public exposure sites.

Anyone who was on that flight or in the airport bathroom at specified times have been told to quarantine for 14 days, while anyone who was in the airport’s arrivals hall in its entirety are considered casual contacts and asked to quarantine for five days.

Premier Peter Gutwein said the man entered the state on the last flight from Melbourne on Monday night after twice having been refused a G2G pass required for passengers coming from Victoria.

He was sent to quarantine at the Hobart TraveLodge and was scheduled to be sent home on the next available flight. It was found he was not in his room on Tuesday afternoon. Police found him at an address in the city’s outer-northern suburbs at 4.45pm.

“He was immediately returned to hotel quarantine and additional security was allocated to him,” Mr Gutwein said.

“The man has been tested overnight and through this morning for Covid-19. It has been confirmed he has returned a positive result.”

He has been fined more than $3100 for entering the state illegally and for breaching quarantine.

“Of course I am very disappointed,” Mr Gutwein said.

“But I’d make the point that my understanding is that in terms of this individual, they’ve been knocked back twice in terms of their Good2Go pass, they’ve chosen to attempt to enter Tasmania on the last flight in the evening and they were picked up at our border.

“So our processes work and they were taken to the TraveLodge. Now we need to understand what has occurred in TraveLodge and how they have managed to abscond.

“These are hotels. They are not secure prison facilities and we need to understand just how this has occurred.”

After the positive test was reported about 11.45am on Wednesday, contact

Of course I am very disappointed Premier Peter Gutwein

tracers began trying to identify the man’s movements.

According to public health, authorities were “identifying and managing” people in two households visited by the case.

“It’s been identified that he was aboard JQ715, which arrived about half past eight on Monday evening, we will have the flight manifest and we’ll contact all the people on that flight,” Public Health director Mark Veitch said.

The aircraft had about a dozen passengers aboard and the bulk were expected to already be in home isolation or quarantine, he said. Airport contacts were also being identified.

“We’re also in the process of identifying the contacts that this person had in suburban Hobart, after they left quarantine and those people will be quarantined and tested,” he said.

“There is no public interest in providing the suburb the person was in unless there’s a risk to the public in that suburb.”

Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Donna Adams said she was confident police who dealt with the man had followed appropriate precautions and were not at an elevated risk of Covid.

“Tasmania Police always take a cautious approach when our officers are dealing with anyone that we identify as being positive,” she said.

“We’ll take public health advice in relation to how we manage those officers moving forward.”