A man who escaped hotel quarantine in Hobart early last week "likely" used a fire escape during a 10 to 20-minute opportunity while a security guard was changing their personal protective equipment, a police review has found.
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The 31-year-old arrived at Hobart Airport at 8.40pm on October 11 having been twice rejected for a G2G PASS and was taken to the Travelodge Hotel by 10.15pm, with no return flight that day.
He was in the room at 10.35pm.
At the time, six security guards were at the hotel - four on occupied floors with a view of two fire escapes, one in the reception area and one roaming.
The Tasmania Police review found there was a 10 to 20 minute window when "access points to the floor were not being visually monitored" due to the guard "changing their PPE and "briefly attending reception to complete the check-in process".
Attempts were later made to contact the guest, and a "physical check" occurred at 1pm on October 12.
Authorities had earlier stated the man was likely in the community for 18 hours, and he could not be seen leaving on CCTV.
He had left his belongings in the room.
He was found by police that afternoon and later tested positive to COVID-19.
The review found that there was an opportunity for him to escape undetected.
"The Guest likely absconded from the facility via a fire escape, during the short period of time that security staff were not present due to changing their PPE and briefly attending reception," the review reads.
"Given the reception area is highly monitored by hotel staff, security personnel and closed-circuit television (CCTV) it is highly improbable that the Guest departed the facility through the front door."
Since the breach, dedicated rooms in each hotel quarantine facility with greater monitoring and security have been established for people from high risk areas.
Tasmania Police will have a 24-hour presence at hotel quarantine when high risk travellers arrive.
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Additional CCTV and alarm switches have been installed.
State Controller Darren Hine said lessons had been learned, but he believed the hotel quarantine system had operated safely and effectively during the pandemic.
Up until the end of September, 13,413 people have used hotel quarantine.
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