Dozens of passengers from South Africa likely to be Covid-19 positive: Dutch health authorities

Amsterdam/Bhubaneswar: Health authorities in the Netherlands have claimed that two flights that arrived in Amsterdam on Friday carried dozens of people who were likely infected with Covid-19.

The Dutch authorities are reportedly conducting further testing to determine if the people are infected with the B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant which the World Health Organization has named Omicron.

According to the Dutch health ministry, out of the 600 passengers that landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, 85 may be infected with the virus.

“Travelers with a positive test result will be placed in isolation at a hotel at or near Schiphol,” said the Dutch health ministry in a statement. “Of the positive test results, we are researching as quickly as possible whether they are the new variant of concern, now named ‘Omicron’.”

All air travel from southern Africa to the Netherlands was banned on Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified the new Covid variant detected in southern Africa this week as the ‘Variant of Concern’ following the Technical Advisory Group meeting on Friday.

“Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in Covid-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a Variant of Concern and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron”, said the global health body in a statement.

The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on November 24, 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterized by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on November 9, 2021.

(With IANS inputs)