A man escapes from the covid-19 quarantine in Australia using a rope of sheets

(CNN) – A 39-year-old man allegedly used a rope made from sheets to descend from a hotel room on a fourth floor and escape quarantine from COVID-19 in Australia, police said.

The man arrived in Western Australia from Brisbane on Monday afternoon, but did not meet the necessary exemption requirements to enter the state, which currently has strict border regulations for COVID-19, according to a release of the local police.

The man was ordered to leave Western Australia within 48 hours and was sent to a quarantine hotel overnight. He allegedly fled after midnight, but was caught Tuesday morning and charged with breaching an order and providing false information.

The man tested negative for COVID-19, according to police.

The blatant escape comes as Australia struggles to contain a local outbreak of the delta variant that began on June 16 with a limousine driver from Bondi, Sydney, transporting the crew of an international flight. Hundreds of cases are now being reported in New South Wales each week, with a handful of cases in neighboring states Victoria and South Australia.

Quarantine in three states in Australia

More than half of the 26 million inhabitants Australians are quarantined in those three states, and restrictions have been imposed elsewhere to stop the spread.

Australia’s borders have been closed since last year to almost all non-Australians. Even those allowed to enter the country must pay thousands of dollars to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel.

Places in state-run quarantine hotels are limited, so fewer tickets are being sold for international flights. Thousands of Australians they have complained that they have been left out of the country.

Delay in vaccination against covid-19 in Australia

Despite strict border security, Australia has slow to vaccinate its population. Only him 11% are fully vaccinated, according to CNN’s Covid-19 Vaccination Monitor. This is significantly lower than the UK, where 53% are fully vaccinated, or the United States, where 48% are vaccinated.

That meant that when the fast-spreading delta variant first detected in India arrived in Australia, vaccine protection was poor.

Australia originally planned to vaccinate most of its population with AstraZeneca’s covid-19 vaccine, but later recommended that vaccine only for those over 60 years old due to concerns about blood clots.

Australians under the age of 60 are advised to get the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. However, supplies have been limited to date. Another million doses of Pfizer arrived in the country earlier this week, but those under 40 have not yet been offered the vaccine within the official schedule.

This is causing concern in states where the delta variant poses a threat. Health authorities are tracking contacts and ordering people who may have been exposed to the virus to isolate themselves and undergo tests.

More cases of the delta variant

On Wednesday, New South Wales authorities said they had found 110 cases after analyzing a record 83,477 samples in the past 24 hours.

“Please do not leave your house unless necessary”, He said Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian.

“This is really serious. We have done well to stop the growth that other countries have seen around the world with the delta variant. We have stopped the thousands and thousands of cases that other countries in the world have had. Our vaccination rates are very low and yet we have done very well to slow the growth of the virus, “he added.

“What we have to do now is quell it. With vaccination rates as they are, we will not be able to live freely and safely unless we are able to quell this current outbreak,” Berejiklian said.

The Sydney metropolitan area is expected to continue under lockdown beyond July, and on Tuesday The quarantine in Victoria was extended for a further seven days.

State Health Director Brett Sutton said the delta variant was more infectious and was moving faster than previous outbreaks in Australia.

“We are not going to risk opening too soon.”