Balloons, Relief At Dutch Airport As Tourists Beat Covid Strain Shutdown

Smiling relatives waiting with balloons and flowers greeted travellers from KLM's only flight from Johannesburg, who reached Netherlands despite a growing international shutdown to curb the new coronavirus strain.

Relieved passengers on a flight from South Africa streamed into Amsterdam's Schiphol airport Saturday, in stark contrast to the previous day when fears about a new Covid-19 variant sparked chaos.

Smiling relatives waiting with balloons and flowers greeted travellers from KLM's only flight from Johannesburg, who reached the Netherlands despite a growing international shutdown to curb the new 'Omicron' strain.

The mood was very different the previous day, when passengers aboard two flights spent hours mired at Schiphol while tests revealed that 61 out of the 600 passengers had coronavirus, with some possibly having the new 'Omicron' strain which has governments worldwide worried.

"We were scared of having to go back into quarantine," said Mariam van der Veen, an air hostess who was on holiday in South Africa with her husband Alexander.