Failures of quarantine systems for preventing COVID-19 outbreaks in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

Objectives: To identify COVID-19 quarantine system failures in Australia and New Zealand. Design, setting, participants: Observational epidemiological study of travellers in managed quarantine in Australia and New Zealand, to 15 June 2021. Main outcome measures: Number of quarantine system failures, and failure with respect to numbers of travellers and SARS-CoV-2-positive travellers. Results: We identified 22 quarantine system failures in Australia and ten in New Zealand to 15 June 2021. One failure initiated a COVID-19 outbreak that caused more than 800 deaths (the Victorian “second wave”); nine lockdowns were linked with quarantine system failures. The failure risk was estimated to be 5.0 ..