Oman, Thailand ban S.African travelers while 61 positive for Covid at Dutch airport

Oman has suspended entry to travelers from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Eswatini starting from Nov. 28 due to the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 discovered in South Africa, the country's state news agency said in a tweet on Saturday. 

However, Oman is not the last country to close its doors to Southern African travelers as Thailand follows suit. 

Thailand said on Saturday it would ban the entry of people travelling from eight African countries it designated as high-risk for the new Omicron variant of Covid-19. 

Starting in December, travel from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, will be prohibited, senior health official Opas Karnkawinpong told a news conference. 

Thailand will not allow travelers from these countries to register to travel to Thailand starting on Saturday, he said. 

The announcement comes as other countries in Asia tighten borders over worries about the B 1.1.529 variant. The World Health Organization designated it the latest "variant of concern," saying it may spread more quickly than other forms. 

"We have notified airlines and these countries," Opas said adding that travelers from other African countries will not be allowed to use the country's quarantine-free travel scheme for vaccinated travelers. 

Meanwhile in the Netherlands, Dutch health authorities said that 61 people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa on Friday tested positive for Covid-19, and they were conducting further testing early Saturday to see if any of the infections are with the recently discovered Omicron coronavirus variant. 

Around 600 passengers arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on the two KLM flights on Friday and then faced hours of delays and testing due to concerns over the new virus variant. 

The Dutch health ministry said early Saturday 61 tests had come back positive. 

"Travelers with a positive test result will be placed in isolation at a hotel at or near Schiphol," health authorities said in a statement. 

"Of the positive test results, we are researching as quickly as possible whether they are the new variant of concern, now named 'Omicron'." 

The Dutch government banned all air travel from southern Africa early on Friday. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge determined that passengers already en route to the Netherlands would have to undergo testing and quarantine upon arrival. 

Passengers on the two KLM flights, from Cape Town and Johannesburg, said they were kept waiting on the tarmac for hours. 

"Vigorous applause because there is a BUS that has come to take us ... somewhere," tweeted New York Times journalist Stephanie Nolen, a passenger on the flight from Johannesburg who later said she had tested negative. 

"Bus to a hall to a huge queue. I can see Covid testers in bright blue PPE far on the distance. Still no snacks for the sad babies," she added in a second tweet. 

A spokesperson for the health authorities in Kennemerland, the Dutch region that oversees Schiphol, said the positive cases were being analyzed by an academic medical hospital to determine whether they are the new strain. 

(Callan Williamson and Reuters)