Dozens of South African flights have tested positive for COVID in the Netherlands Coronavirus pandemic News

Dutch health authorities say they have detected 61 COVID-19 cases among people who have flown from South Africa and believe some of the infections are of the new omicron variant.

In a statement on Saturday, the Dutch Health Authority (GDD) said the cases were found among 624 passengers who arrived at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on two flights on Friday.

This happened before the Dutch government restricted air traffic in southern Africa due to concerns about the variant.

“We know that 61 of the results were positive and 531 [were] negative, ”GDD said.

A spokesman for the National Institute of Public Health (RVIM), meanwhile, said the agency was “almost certain” that the cases were of the new variant, but said more tests were needed to make it completely certain.

The results are expected to be announced on Sunday.

Those who tested positive are being kept isolated in a hotel near the airport.

A spokesman for KLM, a Dutch branch of Air France, said the passengers on the flight had given a negative or showed evidence of the vaccine before boarding planes in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

“It goes too far to say we are surprised” by the large number of cases, a KLM spokesman said. “But we have no explanation.”

The spokesman said it is possible that many positive cases may be present among people who have been vaccinated, or that an unusual number of people may develop infections after being negative.

Dutch health authorities wanted to contact another 5,000 passengers known as South Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, as of Monday, to request that they take the COVID-19 test as soon as possible. .

‘It’s a little scary’

Dutch photographer Paula Zimmerman, who returned from a family visit to South Africa on Friday morning, said the condition of the passengers on the plane was chaotic as they waited on the asphalt and terminal for hours.

Zimmerman was told he had given a negative at 4 a.m., almost 18 hours after landing in Amsterdam. But then he found out that he was next to a man who gave him a positive.

“It was really weird. There was no coordination. There were too few people and no one really took control. ”

The fact that Zimmerman had spent hours on a flight that had many infected passengers made Zimmerman nervous for the next few days, he said.

“I’ve been told that in five days they expect a lot more people to be positive. It’s a little scary to think you’ve been on a plane with a lot of people who have tested positive.”

New York Times global health journalist Stephanie Nolen also tweeted when she called it “Dystopia Central Airline Hallway”.

He described how passengers, including infants and children, were waiting together for tests that were stacked together, “yet 30 percent of people don’t have masks or only wear them on their mouths.”

Dutch citizens are still allowed to return home from southern Africa, while EU citizens are allowed to enter their countries when they pass through.

Medical staff, airline crews and people with severe needs are also allowed to travel. KLM will continue flights to the region, but all passengers must be negative before departure and then be in quarantine for at least five days upon arrival in the Netherlands.

A new variant has been detected because many European countries are facing an increase in coronavirus cases.

The Dutch government on Friday announced the closure of most nightclubs, restaurants and shops as it tries to stop the record wave of COVID-19 cases that is overtaking its healthcare system.