The government imposes quarantine on travelers from
Indice
Meanwhile, the South African government feels “punished”, as it believes that restrictions on flights from its territory are essentially penalizing its advanced ability to detect variants faster than others.
At least 61 passengers on two flights from South Africa have tested positive for coronavirus tonight after landing in Amsterdam, where they were subjected to a PCR upon arrival in the Netherlands when the ban on flights from southern African countries came into force, although it is still being studied whether they carry the new omicron variant.
A health team went to Amsterdam airport, where a flight from Johannesburg and another from Cape Town had landed, to test its 600 passengers, in application of a Dutch restriction on air traffic from southern Africa due to fears of the new strain.
Although Health Minister Hugo de Jonge stressed that the new mutation had not yet been officially detected in the Netherlands, he did say that, based on what is known about other variants, the situation could change rapidly and therefore it was necessary to “slow down the arrival of this variant as much as possible”.
U.S. bans travel from South Africa and other countries in the world
In the press conference after the Council, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, detailed that this is the fourth extension of the restrictions on flights and ships coming from the United Kingdom: it will be in force from 18:00 on February 16 until 18:00 on March 2, 2021 (peninsular time).
The extension of the restrictions on flights from Brazil and South Africa will come into effect at 09:00 on 17 February 2021 (peninsular time) and will be in effect until 18:00 on 2 March 2021 (peninsular time).
Spain extends restrictions on flights from the United Kingdom
The cascade of country restrictions began Thursday night when the UK announced it would temporarily suspend flights from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini.
Singapore has opted to ban entry to all non-residents from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe, while returning nationals and permanent residents from any of these countries will be required to spend 10 days at home. Malaysia has also taken similar measures.
Meanwhile, Germany plans to declare South Africa a “virus variant area” as of Friday night, which will mean that airlines will only be able to enter from the country to repatriate German nationals.
The United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries as of Monday. Following advice from Dr. Anthony Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Biden administration will restrict travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi.
UNITED KINGDOM will require 3 COVID-19 TESTS for travel to
Australia and other countries today joined those that have already imposed travel restrictions from southern Africa after a new variant of the coronavirus, omicron, was discovered, alerting the world and sending markets plunging.
Meanwhile, authorities in Amsterdam said 61 of about 600 people who arrived in the Dutch city on two flights from South Africa on Friday tested positive for the coronavirus and further tests were being conducted to see if they matched the new variant.
Oil prices plunge US$10 on concern over Omicron variantOmicron, dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, is possibly more contagious than previous variants of the disease, which has already infected more than 260 million people and caused the deaths of more than 5.4 million.
A minister in the German state of Hesse said Saturday that the variant had most likely arrived in Germany through a traveler returning from South Africa. Czech health authorities said they were examining a suspected case from a person who had spent time in Namibia.