Man who allegedly escaped hotel quarantine and went to SA pub arrested

An investigation has found flaws in South Australia’s medi-hotel security protocols, which allowed an international arrival to leave hotel quarantine for eight hours and attend a nearby pub and fast food outlet last week.

The 33-year-old New South Wales man, who arrived on a Singapore repatriation flight on August 3, has been arrested and charged.

SA Police said that just after 10:00pm on Thursday night, the man left his medi-hotel room and used a fire escape to get to the basement car park, where he was questioned by police.

He was allowed to leave when he allegedly provided “false information”, telling police he had lost his way after leaving a nearby pub.

The breach was only identified when the man returned to the medi-hotel at 6:00am on Friday morning.

During his eight hours out of quarantine, he went to the Duke of York Hotel on nearby Currie Street as well as a McDonald’s outlet, police said.

The man has since been arrested and charged with breaching the Emergency Management Act.

He completed his 14-day quarantine yesterday and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today.

He was fully vaccinated at the time, and has returned at least four negative COVID-19 tests.

An investigation has identified nine recommendations for improving hotel quarantine, including reviewing how CCTV and fire escapes are monitored.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens has acknowledged police should have asked more detailed questions before allowing the man to leave.

“This is a security breach that should not have happened. It’s disappointing that it did happen,” he said.

Commissioner Stevens said the incident began when the man left his room and entered a fire escape.

While his movements were captured on camera, he was not detected by staff monitoring CCTV, and there was no alarm on the fire exit.

“He was in the hallway for about seven seconds before entering into the fire stairwell, which took him down to the basement car park,” he said.

Police said that the man had lied to the patrol, which consisted of a police officer and protective security officer, leading them to believe he was a patron from the Duke of York who “had inadvertently found his way to the car park area”.

The man was then directed to return to the hotel.

“People concerned in terms of monitoring CCTV didn’t get it right on this occasion,” Commissioner Stevens said.

“Even though this person was only in view for seven seconds, our system should have picked up his departure from his room and the police patrol that spoke to the person in the car park, on reflection, should have asked more questions.

“We’re not denying the fact that this could have been potentially significant for South Australia but the individuals concerned, they weren’t negligent, they weren’t incompetent, they made mistakes and they have been corrected.”

Commissioner Stevens said while there were no security officers in the hallway, CCTV had previously “proven to be effective” and reduced the risk of coronavirus transmission.

He said staff monitoring CCTV would receive extra training, and that medi-hotel management had been spoken to.

“The CCTV system is monitored 24 hours a day by two staff,” Commissioner Stevens said.

“Over 22,000 people have completed the medi-hotel quarantine program in South Australia.

“This isolated incident happened partly due to the close the proximity of the man’s room to the fire exit and his lies to police.”

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