Variant had already arrived

The Covid-19 Omicron variant was detected in the Netherlands before two flights arrived from SA last week, also carrying the virus, health officials said on Tuesday.

At least 14 people on flights from Jourg and Cape Town arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on November 26 carrying the variant, the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said.

“We have found the Omicron variant in two test samples that were taken on November 19 and November 23,” the RIVM said. “It is not clear yet whether they visited Southern Africa.”

A total of 61 out of the more than 600 passengers on the SA flights tested positive for Covid-19 and went into quarantine.

Dutch authorities are also seeking to contact and test about 5,000 other passengers who have travelled from SA, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia or Zimbabwe.

Tougher Covid-19 measures went into effect on Sunday to curb record daily infection rates of more than 20,000.