Dutch Find 61 Covid Positive On 'dystopia' Flights From S.Africa

Dutch health authorities said Saturday that 61 passengers aboard two KLM flights from South Africa tested positive for Covid-19 and the results were being examined for the new Omicron variant

Schiphol, Netherlands, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Nov, 2021 ) :Dutch health authorities said Saturday that 61 passengers aboard two KLM flights from South Africa tested positive for Covid-19 and the results were being examined for the new Omicron variant.

The positive cases -- more than one tenth of the 600 people on the two planes -- were now being quarantined in a hotel near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, one of Europe's biggest international air travel hubs.

Passengers said they had endured miserable hours at the arrivals hall to get tested, with witnesses saying many people failed to wear face masks or keep to social distancing.

"We now know that 61 of the results were positive and 531 negative," the Dutch Health Authority (GGD) said in a statement.

"The positive test results will be examined as soon as possible to determine whether this concerns the new worrisome variant, which has since been given the name Omicron variant." All passengers who tested positive must stay in hotel quarantine for seven days if they show symptoms and for five days if they do not, the GGD said.

Passengers who tested negative, but are remaining in the Netherlands, are expected to isolate at home. Those who do not live in the Netherlands can "continue their journey", it said.

Passenger Paula Zimmerman who documented her night via videos posted on Twitter, said she finally received a negative result after hours of waiting but must now spend five days in home quarantine.

People on the plane were "taken from the tarmac to an isolated room where we waited for four hours before being tested," Zimmerman told AFP.

"Everyone on the plane was in there" with little respect for social distancing rules, she said.

Her final video, posted around 0250 GMT on Saturday showed a row of more passengers waiting to be tested while others were sleeping on benches and on the floor.

"Organisation was terrible unfortunately. Lessons to be learned for future," she tweeted.