(Amsterdam Airport Schiphol) Sixty-one passengers from two flights from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Amsterdam, the Dutch health authority announced on Saturday, which analyzes the results of the search for the new Omicron variant.
“We now know that 61 of the results were positive and 531 negative”, announced the Dutch health authority (GGD), specifying that the passengers declared positive were placed in quarantine in a hotel near the airport of Amsterdam-Schiphol .
Passengers said they had to wait hours in the arrivals hall before being tested. Many people did not wear masks or respect social distancing, some testified.
Those with negative results can continue their trip if they do not reside in the Netherlands. Otherwise, they must isolate themselves at their home.
“The positive tests will be analyzed to determine as soon as possible if it is the new variant”, announced the health authorities.
Passenger Paula Zimmerman said she ultimately tested negative after hours of waiting but now had to spend five days in home quarantine.
The people on his plane were “taken from the tarmac to an isolated room where we waited four hours before being tested,” said Mr.me Zimmerman to AFP.
“Everyone on the plane was in there” with little respect for social distancing rules, she added.
On one of his videos posted to Twitter on Saturday at around 1:50 a.m. (0250 GMT), we see a line of passengers waiting to be tested while others sleep on benches or on the ground.
“The organization was unfortunately terrible. Lessons to be learned for the future ”, declared Mme Zimmerman in a tweet.
“We understand that people are frustrated” by the situation at Schiphol, the Dutch health authority said.
“People have just taken a long journey with the idea that they will soon be home,” she added.
“Instead, right after landing they are faced with a situation that we have never experienced in the Netherlands, which is that people have to be tested at Schiphol and are forced to wait until they get a result, ”she continued.
The new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, detected for the first time Thursday in South Africa is considered “worrying” by the WHO.
It represents a “high to very high” risk for Europe, warned the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Friday evening.
It would present an increased risk of contagion compared to other variants, including Delta, dominant and already very contagious.
The Dutch company KLM said in a press release that it would continue to liaise with Johannesburg and Cape Town, “by applying the reinforced protocols”.
Entry to the Netherlands from South Africa is only allowed for Dutch citizens and residents from EU countries, who must show a negative COVID-19 test and self-isolate at the arrival.
A KLM flight from Johannesburg was scheduled to land at Amsterdam-Schiphol at 11 a.m. GMT, according to the company’s website.
Apart from South Africa, Omicron has been detected in Israel in a person from Malawi, Botswana, Hong Kong and Belgium, a member country of the EU.
More countries are suspending travel to and from southern Africa to curb Omicron. The worry it causes has plunged the world’s stock markets and oil prices, dealing a further blow to the global economy in full recovery.