An Australian man ordered to spend the night in a quarantine hotel made a temporary escape early Tuesday down a rope made from bed sheets, which he dangled from his fourth-floor window, police said. The 39-year-old had arrived in Perth, Western Australia, from the Queensland capital of Brisbane on a Monday flight but was denied entry due to restrictions related to COVID-19 and the spread of the delta variant, per CNN. He was sent to a quarantine hotel and told to leave the region within 48 hours. Instead, "he climbed out a window of the fourth floor room using a rope made of bed sheets and fled the area" just before 1am Tuesday, police said in a Facebook post, sharing a photo of the tied-together bed sheets reaching all the way to the ground.
The man was arrested across the city by 9am and charged with failing to comply with a direction and providing "false/misleading information," reports Reuters. Mandatory hotel quarantines for international travelers, and some domestic travelers, have helped curb the spread of COVID-19 in Australia, where just 11% of the population is fully vaccinated, but compliance is an issue. Also Wednesday, a 33-year-old American woman appeared in Perth Magistrates Court to face five counts of failing to comply with a direction after she was accused of leaving a 14-day mandatory hotel quarantine to visit a cafe and go shopping, per the Courier Mail. Her bail application was rejected, meaning she'll spend at least the next nine days in prison. Both alleged quarantine-breakers tested negative for COVID-19. (More Australia stories.)
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