Woman arrested after brazen hotel quarantine escape
A 32-year-old woman has been arrested after she scaled two balconies to escape hotel quarantine in Queensland.
The woman had been staying in quarantine at the Cairns Pacific International hotel after she arrived in the state from Sydney on July 1.
Police said she was found missing on Monday and after examining CCTV found she had scaled two balconies, descended an outdoor staircase and kicked in a door to escape.
Police said the 32-year-old was later found in Cairns at her mother's house and taken into custody where she is facing a number of charges.
She tested negative for the virus when she first arrived in hotel quarantine and health authorities are awaiting the results of her second test.
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Police said the woman is the first to successfully escape the hotel while undergoing mandatory quarantine, however added there had been a number of attempts in the past.
Queensland records one new local case
Queensland has recorded one new local cases of coronavirus however health authorities are struggling to determine their infectious period.
The new case is a woman who was a close contact to a man from Sinnamon Park in Brisbane who was announced as a positive case on Monday.
Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young told reporters they are retracing her steps from when she came in contact with the man on June 26 as they cannot confirm when she became infectious as she is asymptomatic.
"We are of course taking it very, very seriously and looking at all potential exposure sites," she said.
Dr Young said the new case was a student nurse who attended Griffith University.
"They have been on holidays since June 15 and we are confirming, but we believe she hadn't been on campus since that time," she said.
"She does her clinical placement at Logan Hospital. She hasn't been there doing a clinical placement since June 15 but she did visit for one hour to talk to a patient on June 28."
Dr Young added however when the infectious case visited the patient a mask requirement was already in place and the patient has since tested negative.
"We are just working through whether there are any other venues of concern but remember, we were in lockdown for most of that timeframe," she said.
"I'm not particularly concerned but we will go and double-check."
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