Three more people who absconded from hotel quarantine in Dublin were persuaded to turn their car around and return to their rooms after being intercepted by gardaí over 150km away.
Sources told The Irish Times the three women are believed to be Brazilian nationals who attempted to make their way home to Loughrea, Co Galway but details are unconfirmed.
They were resident in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry, north Dublin for the last number of days before deciding to leave on Tuesday.
They drove out of the county in their own car before being spotted by gardaí on motorway patrol and pulled over near Loughrea.
Following a conversation with the officers, the women were persuaded to return to quarantine.
It is not yet clear from where they had flown into the country.
Garda response
On Tuesday evening gardaí confirmed they were in contact with the State Liaison Officer at a designated quarantine facility in accordance with protocols.
A spokesman told The Irish Times it followed “a report of three people leaving a facility in the Dublin area earlier on Tuesday. A graduated policing response was adopted by Gardaí and all three have since been returned to the facility.”
“As the Department of Health are the lead agency in relation to the management of mandatory quarantining, An Garda Síochána will not be commenting further at this time.”
It follows a similar incident on Friday, when two women in their 30s were arrested and charged after refusing to enter mandatory hotel quarantine upon arrival in Dublin Airport.
The two women, who arrived from the United Arab Emirates, where they had travelled to for plastic surgery, have since appeared in court.
