WATCH: Police in northern Spain arrest surfer who refused to quarantine after positive test

The woman, who reportedly works as a lifeguard on La Concha beach in the popular Basque resort, broke an order to isolate at home after testing positive to Covid-19 and instead grabbed her board to catch some waves.

According to local reports she was spotted by her own colleagues who knew she was breaking isolation rules and urged her to go home. She was originally approached by a lifeboat and told to return to the shore but she refused the order and continued to enjoy the surf for another hour.

Then officers from the Basque police force Ertzaintza went to retrieve her as she emerged from the water and arrested her for disobeying authorities and crimes against public health.

The footage captured by a passerby on the beach and uploaded to social media shows the woman refusing to go with police and being chased by officers, several of whom were wearing head to toe chemical protection suits and masks to avoid contagion.

The footage went viral and should serve as a warning to others tempted to ignore quarantine rules.

But unfortunately, she is not the only one. A new report suggests that each week in Madrid alone, some 500 people are caught breaking observe isolation rules after testing positive.

Elena Andradas, head of public health services in Madrid said that since the second week of August there have been an average of 500 cases of a week of non-compliance of isolation and quarantine measures.

Failure to observe isolation when told to do so by health authorities can carry a penalty of between €3,005 and €15,025 although the police have only intervened on 70 cases according to regional authorities.