Dutch police have arrested a married couple who fled a quarantine hotel to get a flight out of the country, despite at least one of them testing positive for Covid on arrival in the Netherlands from South Africa, where the new Omicron variant was first identified.
The Portuguese woman and Spanish man were apprehended in their seats moments before their plane was scheduled to leave for Spain from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Sunday evening.
A spokesperson for the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, a national police force, said the couple had been taken off the plane “almost silently and without resistance”.
They were being kept in isolation in hospital and could be prosecuted for violating Dutch quarantine rules. It is unclear whether one or both had tested positive for the Omicron variant or one of the earlier strains.
A total of 624 passengers arrived at Schiphol on flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town on Friday morning on the Dutch national carrier KLM.
People were held for four hours on their planes while they were tested for the virus. Those who tested negative were asked to isolate at home for five days and take further tests and those transiting were allowed to carry on with their journey.
Sixty-one passengers tested positive and were put into quarantine at a Ramada hotel near the airport along with their partners. Thirteen of them were identified as having contracted the Omicron variant.
The couple, who have not been named, are understood to have left their hotel at about 6pm on Sunday evening, at which point the security guards supervising the quarantine called the police. The Marechaussee did not release further details of the couple’s medical status.
The Dutch health minister, Hugo de Jonge, made an urgent request for all those who had arrived from southern Africa in recent days to be tested for Covid as soon as possible.
“It is not unthinkable that there are more cases in the Netherlands,” he said.
Under a change of rules, those flying to the Netherlands from South Africa must now show a negative PCR test to board planes. The Omicron variant has also been found in Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy and the UK.
A tightening of Covid restrictions has come into force in the Netherlands. For the next three weeks, hospitality and cultural venues, including bars, cafes, museums, and cinemas, must close by 5pm local time.
