The woman slipped her security detail after being allowed to visit her Auckland home to feed her pet.

She was one of three people with COVID-19 to escape their quarantine in 24 hours, failures that quarantine chief Rose King labelled "really disappointing and unacceptable".

In one incident, two men climbed a fence to flee the Holiday Inn Auckland Airport about 5.40pm on Tuesday.

They were watched by security as they absconded, and were easily captured within five minutes.

The health ministry believes there was little chance of them passing on COVID-19 to anyone else, and the pair will face court on charges of failing to comply with a health order.

In the second incident, an Auckland woman who caught COVID-19 was transferred to quarantine, but convinced officers she needed to make a trip home.

She was granted permission to "retrieve personal items, care for a pet and lock their house", before giving her minders the slip.

"They were given 10 minutes to do what they needed to. At the 10-minute mark the security detail went to retrieve them and found the individual had disappeared from the address," Ms King said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.

Police said she was being returned to isolation.

She has been charged and will appear in court at a later date.

with DPA

Australian Associated Press