By Bond Robertson 
On Friday night, it became clear that 61 of the 600 South African travelers had tested positive. Espen Rostrop Nakstad, assistant director of health, believes there is reason to believe that the omicron variant is present in many countries in Europe now.
Friday morning Two planes landed from South Africa At Schiphol International Airport in the Netherlands. That same morning, the Dutch authorities imposed a ban on flights from South Africa.
Passengers had to wait for several hours when getting off the plane. Dutch health authorities wanted to test all passengers.
On Friday night, the newspaper wrote, it became clear that 61 out of 600 passengers tested positive General newspaper.
It is not known if they were infected with the new omicron variant, but Dutch health authorities are analyzing the samples to find out.
People who test positive are being asked to isolate themselves in a quarantine hotel for at least seven days if they develop symptoms, and five days if they do not.
Those who test negative must remain in home quarantine for five days and be tested again on the fifth day.
– Surprised
One of the planes landed from Cape Town at 10:30 and the other from Johannesburg at 11. The passengers of the two planes were separated from the rest of the airport.
On Friday, VG spoke with Bjarte Onsrud who was with the family on one of the planes.
The family received news of the new replacement on Thursday night, and in the airport lounge in Johannesburg, South Africa, they were told there might be some changes.
– It was a bit surprising that many of the tests were positive, says Unsrud.
On Saturday morning, the family landed in Gardermoen, after receiving negative test results in the Netherlands, Onsrud said.
Now they have tested themselves again and have to spend a few days in quarantine hotels.
It has been a arduous journey home, Unsrod says.
It may be found in several countries
– The cases of coronavirus on this plane indicate that the infection pressure in South Africa is very high and that it is likely that it has developed over several weeks, despite the fact that the country has much higher vaccine coverage than many other African countries, he says Assistant Director of Health Espen Rostrop Nakstad.
He thinks the increase in infections has likely gone a little under the radar because the population in South Africa is young and because they don’t get tested as much as, say, in Norway.
– The number of passengers infected with the new omikron variant is not yet known, but it is possible that delta and omikron infections will be found among air passengers, he said.
The infection on the flight from South Africa, which landed in Amsterdam, indicates that other flights to Europe recently must also have cases on board, according to Nakstad.
– So there is reason to believe that the omicron variant is present in many countries in Europe now, and not only in Holland and Belgium, he says and continues:
In the next few days, we will likely learn more about the reach and spread of this new species and whether or not there are signs of increased morbidity between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.