A woman who escaped from COVID-19 quarantine in New Zealand has handed herself into authorities, police have announced.

The woman, who went to isolation from hospital, went missing in Auckland on Tuesday evening.

Police said she was being returned to isolation. 

She has been charged and will appear in court at a later date.

Two other people with COVID-19 had escaped quarantine in the past 24 hours.

Quarantine chief Rose King has labelled the failure as “really disappointing and unacceptable” as authorities continue to search for the missing person.

The female runaway has been granted permission to return home briefly under security escort to “retrieve personal items, care for a pet and lock their house”, before giving her minders the slip.

“They were given 10 minutes to do what they needed to. At the 10-minute mark the security detail went to retrieve them and found the individual had disappeared from the address,” Quarantine chief Rose Kin said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.

In a separate incident two men attempted to flee their quarantine at the Holiday Inn Auckland Airport about 5.40pm on Tuesday.

They were watched by security as they absconded, and were captured within five minutes.

The health ministry believes the public health risk to be low, and the pair will face court on charges of failing to comply with a health order.

with DPA

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