Dutch authorities have said 61 people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa yesterday have tested positive for Covid-19.
Officials rushed to test around 600 people who arrived at Schiphol Airport on the KLM flights from Johannesburg amid concerns about the new Covid-19 variant.
Further tests are now being carried out to see if any of the positive cases are the new Omicron variant.
Dutch health authorities said: ‘Travelers with a positive test result will be placed in isolation at a hotel at or near Schiphol.
‘Of the positive test results, we are researching as quickly as possible whether they are the new variant of concern, now named “Omicron”.’
The Netherlands was one of a number of countries to close its borders to travellers from southern Africa yesterday in a bid to prevent Omnicron reaching its shores.
The UK, Canada, US, Russia and other EU countries have all imposed travel restrictions.
After bans were announced, Dutch health minister Hugo de Jonge said all passengers already en route would have to undergo testing and quarantine upon arrival.
The decision meant those landing at Amsterdam were held on the tarmac for several hours.
‘Vigorous applause because there is a BUS that has come to take us … somewhere,’ tweeted New York Times journalist Stephanie Nolen, a passenger on the flight from Johannesburg who later tested negative.
She added: ‘Bus to a hall to a huge queue. I can see COVID testers in bright blue PPE far on the distance. Still no snacks for the sad babies.’
Omicron has now been detected in Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel as well as in southern Africa.
Suspected cases have also been picked up in Germany and the Czech Republic, although samples are still being analysed.
There is nothing that currently suggests the new variant causes more severe disease.
But it has several mutations which suggest it is more transmissible and more resistant to antibodies.
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