“I don’t see how 30 middle-aged doctors could manage to abscond at 3am in the eyes of 20 armed police,” he said. Dr Glen Lo at Sydney International Airport in the early hours of Saturday morning. The Santiago flight arrived at Sydney International Airport at 10pm on Friday. Earlier that day, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced anyone returning from overseas from midnight on Saturday would be forced to spend their 14-day quarantine period in a hotel. Up until that Saturday cut-off, returned travellers were being told to self-isolate at home. Dr Lo, who is under quarantine at Rydges hotel in Sydney, said all the medical professionals he was in contact with from that flight knew they had to stay in quarantine, but they were “bewildered and confused” by the mixed messages they had received. “We all wanted to go into quarantine, we were all happy to self isolate, the confusion was how we were meant to self isolate and how we were meant to go home,” he said.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said it was “bitterly disappointing” to hear the doctors ignored the advice given to them early on Saturday morning, while Mr Morrison said the doctors “did the wrong thing” and they would be followed up by authorities. Associate Professor Shane Hamblin, who is also under quarantine in a Sydney hotel, was “shocked” to hear that NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said they had not listened to the advice. “How could the message have gotten so wrong?” he said. “They knew the flights we were taking, because they asked us before they let us out.” Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Everyone on the flight had to fill out several forms and include their flight details, where they were heading and how they intended to get home from the domestic airports.

Later at the baggage carousel, a senior officer told them they would have to be quarantined, and reassessed later in the morning. NSW Police said the passengers were told they would have to remain quarantined in hotels for a fortnight. They then had to give junior police officers their personal information, which is where Dr Lo said more confusion occurred. “We were told to check into our hotel and take our domestic flights in the morning,” Dr Lo said. Associate Professor Hamblin, from Melbourne, said the police officer he spoke to said he and his wife needed to stay in Sydney for the duration of their quarantine. "Other police were saying you can go to a hotel over the road and you can have your domestic flights tomorrow," he said. When he queried that with his police officer, he was also told he could go home.