They were isolated in a hotel in the Dutch capital after arriving in the Netherlands from South Africa along with 61 other travelers infected by covid-19
The covid passport they had served them as a safe-conduct so as not to arouse suspicion when they passed the controls at Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam. The couple, made up of a 30-year-old Spaniard and a 28-year-old Portuguese, already felt one step away from stepping on Barcelona, with the boarding already completed and inside the plane. However, they did not expect that they would be detained at the last minute by the Netherlands Police, who forced them to get off the device for fleeing the hotel where they had been in mandatory quarantine since Saturday after one of them tested positive for coronavirus. return from a flight from South Africa.
The scene, which took place on Sunday, has caused deep outrage in the country. Not surprisingly, the couple was part of the group of 61 passengers infected by COVID-19 who were completing isolation measures in a hotel near Schiphol and it had also just been known that thirteen of them were infected with the new Omicron variant. Even the health authorities had warned them that the number of people affected by this strain could increase since there were still samples pending analysis.
“We are very surprised that people are not taking this seriously,” lamented the mayor of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, Marianne Schuurmans-Wijdeven, under the authority of Schiphol, who considered “irresponsible” the actions of the Spanish and Portuguese. Both, determined to head to Spain, ignored the requests of the hotel’s security personnel not to leave.
After being placed at the disposal of the Prosecutor’s Office by the agents, the couple has been taken to a hospital where they will now be detained for health reasons and under the strict surveillance of the security forces. Also, a spokeswoman for the Haarlemmermeer mayor’s office reported that they were being “investigated for a possible crime”. “They were trying to leave the Netherlands on a plane. So we had to go in, get them out of there under arrest and hand them over to the health authorities, “added a police representative.
In statements to TV3, the two detainees denied that they escaped from the hotel. According to their version, a policeman and a person from the Dutch health service “let them go”, although they did not give them any supporting documents.
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