There is a requirement for passengers to have a pre-travel testing before they travel. That makes you wonder...
Friday was a busy day for flights from South Africa.
The omicron coronaviruses variant has led to new travel restrictions. Many countries are banning nonstop flights from South Africa, and some passengers got caught up in that yesterday.
Friday's flights from Cape Town to Amsterdam were problematic. The Netherlands imposed a South Africa flight ban on Friday, but at the time of the ban, the flights from South Africa to the Netherlands were already in the air.
The authorities at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport were unsure what to do with the passengers. A New York Times Global Health Reporter was on the tarmac for several hours, and he was live on the internet.
South Africa has world-class scientists and is transparent about what they find, so it's hard not to see it being punished for that.
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November 26, 2021.
Passengers were allowed to leave the plane, but had to go through mandatory testing. If you ask me, that is where the story gets more interesting.
There are at least 61 passengers who have tested positive for coronaviruses.
At least 61 passengers on the two flights have tested positive for coronaviruses, which is a positive rate of around 10%, and more will test positive in the coming days. Passengers had to show a negative coronaviruses test result before they traveled, and it was reported that they had to do it within 24 hours.
Passengers were kept at the airport until their test results came back. It is not known how many passengers have the new omicron variant, though testing is being conducted to figure that out.
People who live in the Netherlands can be put into hotels if they test positive, but passengers who test positive need to go to a home. The people who tested negative have been told to stay away from their final destination for at least five days.
What should we make of this?
It is shocking to think that 10% of passengers on these two flights tested positive for coronaviruses.
Passengers had to be tested prior to travel, and it was suggested that they only started testing positive in the past few days.
Most people who test positive for coronaviruses before they even get on the plane have had it, so it is unlikely that anyone caught it on the plane.
We don't know much about the omicron variant yet, but between vaccinations, pre- travel testing, natural immunity, etc., you can't help but wonder what's causing 10% of passengers to test positive
The number of passengers who tested positive for coronaviruses is disproportionate to the epidemiological situation in the country.
I have written before about the shady business of coronaviruses testing for travel. It is easy to fake a coronaviruses test result, and the providers that do the testing are often questionable, in terms of analyzing test results, to verify that the person being tested is who they say they are.
The bottom line.
The Netherlands banned flights from South Africa while the planes were in motion. Passengers were allowed to disembark in Amsterdam, but had to be tested. Sixty-one of the 600 passengers have tested positive for coronaviruses. It is an incredibly high number when you consider that the passengers had to be tested before travel.
What do you think about the positive rate of passengers from South Africa?
