A man escaped Australia's strict hotel COVID-19 quarantine by making a bed sheet rope, police say

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A man escaped Australia's strict hotel COVID-19 quarantine by making a bed sheet rope, police say
Police arrested a man in Australia after they say he used a rope made of bed sheets to scale down a hotel from a fourth floor window to escape mandatory COVID-19 quarantine. Western Australia Police Force
  • Police arrested a man in Australia after they say he escaped mandatory COVID-19 quarantine.
  • Cop said the 39-year-old used a rope made of bed sheets to climb out of a fourth floor window at a hotel.
  • The man was charged with failure to comply with a direction and providing false information.
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Police arrested a man in Australia after they say he used a rope made of bed sheets to scale down a hotel from a fourth-floor window to escape mandatory COVID-19 quarantine.

The 39-year-old Queensland man - who was not publicly identified by police - arrived in Western Australia on a flight from Brisbane at about 4:15 p.m. local time on Monday, but he did not complete his application to satisfy strict coronavirus travel restrictions in the state, authorities said.

The Western Australian Police Force said the man then manually completed the G2G Pass application prior to entry in the state and it was refused "as it did not satisfy any exemption categories under existing restrictions for Queensland."

Authorities ordered the man to leave Western Australia within 48 hours and he was directed to temporarily quarantine overnight in a hotel.

A man escaped Australia's strict hotel COVID-19 quarantine by making a bed sheet rope, police say
The man was arrested by police about eight hours after he escaped. Western Australia Police Force

At around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, cops say the man climbed out of a window of a fourth-floor room at a Rivervale hotel using a rope made of bed sheets and fled.

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The man was picked up on a street in Mount Lawley by Operation Tide Compliance and Assurance officers about eight hours later and taken into custody.

He ultimately tested negative for COVID-19, police said.

The man was charged with failure to comply with a direction and providing false information. According to ABC in Australia, he appeared in court on Tuesday and did not apply for bail. He will be held until early August when his quarantine period ends so that he can appeared in court in person, the outlet reported.

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