Dutch police arrest couple trying to flee quarantine for Spain

Dutch military police say they have arrested a married couple who left a hotel where they were in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 and were attempting to flee the country.

The couple were arrested “in an airplane that was about to depart”, the police force, known as the Marechaussee, said in a statement. It was unclear whether they had tested positive for the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

The Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool reported that the couple, a Spanish man and Portuguese woman, were attempting to fly to Spain.

Dozens of passengers who tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving on two flights from South Africa on Friday were being kept in quarantine at a hotel near Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

The Marechaussee statement said the pair, whose names were not released, had been turned over to health authorities.

In all, 61 of the more than 600 passengers on the flights from Johannesburg and Cape Town tested positive. Most were quarantining at the hotel, though some Dutch residents were allowed to quarantine at home.

Dutch health authorities said earlier on Sunday that at least 13 of the 61 were infected with the newly identified Omicron variant of the virus.

The Marechaussee did not release further details of the couple’s medical status.