Dutch well being authorities stated on Saturday that they had detected 61 COVID-19 instances amongst individuals who flew from South Africa on Friday and have been now doing additional checks to see whether or not any are contaminated with the brand new Omicron variant.
The instances have been found amongst round 600 passengers who arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on two flights on Friday earlier than the Dutch authorities halted air site visitors from southern Africa on account of issues over the variant.
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Dutch well being authorities stated on Saturday they might additionally search to contact vacationers who had arrived from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe since Monday and urge them to take a take a look at as quickly as potential.
The passengers from Friday’s flights have been stored separated from different vacationers and those that examined constructive are being stored in isolation at a resort close to the airport.
A spokesperson for the well being ministry stated it will not be identified till later Saturday whether or not any of passengers are contaminated with the brand new variant.
A spokesperson for KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France , stated the airline was attempting to find out what guidelines have been in place as of Friday morning to stop individuals with COVID-19 infections from boarding the flights, which departed from Cape City and Johannesburg.
Guidelines on the corporate’s web site stated passengers needed to current a detrimental COVID-19 “fast antigen” take a look at outcome taken 24 hours earlier than departure however weren’t required to indicate proof of vaccination.
‘REALLY WEIRD’
Paula Zimmerman, a Dutch photographer who returned from a household go to in South Africa on Friday morning, stated the state of affairs for the passengers on the planes was chaotic, as they have been stored ready on the tarmac and within the terminal for hours.
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Zimmerman was instructed she had examined detrimental at 4 a.m., virtually 18 hours after touchdown in Amsterdam, however stated she then came upon she was standing proper subsequent to a person who knew he had examined constructive for an an infection.
“It was actually bizarre. There was no coordination. There have been too few individuals and there actually wasn’t anyone who took management.”
Having spent hours on a flight that seemingly had many contaminated passengers made Zimmerman anxious for the times to return, she stated.
“I’ve been instructed that they anticipate that much more individuals will take a look at constructive after 5 days. It’s just a little scary the concept that you’ve been in a aircraft with lots of people who examined constructive.” The Dutch flight ban doesn’t imply that each one flights from southern Africa to the Netherlands are halted, as Dutch residents are allowed to return house, whereas EU residents are allowed entry in transit to their house international locations.
Medical workers, airline crews and other people with urgent wants are additionally nonetheless allowed to journey. KLM will proceed flights to the area, however vacationers want to remain in quarantine for a minimum of 5 days upon arrival within the Netherlands.
The brand new variant https://www.reuters.com/enterprise/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/what-we-know-about-covid-19-variant-detected-south-africa-2021-11-26 has been detected simply as many European international locations are grappling with a surge in coronavirus instances.
The Dutch authorities on Friday introduced the nighttime closure of bars, eating places and most shops because it tries to curb a record-breaking wave of COVID-19 instances that’s swamping its healthcare system.
(Reporting by Toby Sterling, Bart Meijer and Johnny Cotton. Modifying by Frances Kerry)