61 test positive for Covid on arrival in Netherlands from South Africa

Passengers sit in their seats aboard KLM Flight 598 on the tarmac at Schipol airport in Amsterdam after it landed from Cape Town, South Africa on Friday Nov. 26, 2021. The flight was held on the edge of the runway at Schiphol airport for four hours pending special testing because of the new variant Advisers to the World Health Organization are holding a special session Friday to flesh out information about a worrying new variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in South Africa, though its impact on COVID-19 vaccines may not be known for weeks. (UGC via AP)

A total of 61 people who arrived in the Netherlands on two flights from South Africa on Friday have tested positive for coronavirus and are in isolation as the world seeks to contain a highly transmissible new coronavirus variant.

Further tests are under way on the travellers who arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport to establish if any of them have the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 that was first discovered in southern Africa.