Amsterdam: Dutch health authorities said today they had detected 61 COVID-19 cases among people who flew from South Africa on Friday and were now doing further tests to see whether any are infected with the new Omicron variant.
The cases were discovered among around 600 passengers who arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on two flights on Friday before the Dutch government halted air traffic from southern Africa due to concerns over the variant.
Dutch health authorities said on Saturday they would also seek to contact travellers who had arrived from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe since Monday and urge them to take a test as soon as possible.
The passengers from Friday's flights were kept separated from other travellers and those who tested positive are being kept in isolation at a hotel near the airport.
A spokesperson for the health ministry said it would not be known until later Saturday whether any of passengers are infected with the new variant.
A spokesperson for KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France , said the airline was trying to determine what rules were in place as of Friday morning to prevent people with COVID-19 infections from boarding the flights, which departed from Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Rules on the company's website said passengers had to present a negative COVID-19 "rapid antigen" test result taken 24 hours before departure but were not required to show proof of vaccination.
