|
 The pair, a Spanish man and Portuguese woman, left the hotel where
travellers who tested positive for the virus were staying after
arriving at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from South Africa.
"They have now been transferred to a hospital elsewhere in the
Netherlands to ensure they are in isolation. They are now in
so-called forced isolation," said Petra Faber, spokesperson for
Haarlemmermeer municipality, where Schiphol is located just outside
of the capital.
"We don't know who tested positive for the new variant and we
wouldn't say because of privacy," Faber said.
The couple fled the hotel on Sunday and had boarded a plane to Spain
when they were detained by military police at the airport, said
Faber. They were among 61 out of the more than 600 passengers who
arrived on two flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town on Friday and
tested positive for COVID-19.
At least 13 of those infected have the newly identified Omicron
variant of the virus, Dutch health authorities said on Sunday
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/
dutch-set-announce-findings-omicron-cases-among-safrica-travellers-2021-11-28.
Security at the hotel has in the meantime been increased to ensure
the quarantined guests stay in their rooms. It is being guarded by
regular police and military police.
[to top of second column] |
 The discovery of Omicron,
dubbed a "variant of concern" by the World
Health Organization, has sparked worries
https://www.reuters.com
world/new-coronavirus-variant-omicron-keeps-spreading-australia-detects-cases-2021-11-28
around the world that it could resist
vaccinations and prolong the nearly two-year-old
COVID-19 pandemic.
Dutch authorities are also seeking to contact
and test some 5,000 other passengers who have
travelled from South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini,
Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe.
In the Netherlands, tougher COVID-19 measures
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/
netherlands-impose-new-covid-measures-avoid-healthcare-breakdown-2021-11-26
went into effect on Sunday to curb record daily
infection rates of more than 20,000 and ease
pressure on hospitals.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony
Deutsch, Editing by William Maclean)
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