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.
At least 107 other passengers were stopped from boarding as they did not comply with new Dutch government rules hastily announced on Friday. Since the emergence of the new strain, one country after another has banned flights from southern Africa in what New York Times global health reporter Stephanie Nolen -- who was on one of the flights to Schiphol -- termed "variant panic."On Friday passengers arriving at Schiphol had to endure hours of waiting -- first on the plane and then in a cramped arrival hall "were people were breathing on each other" and many people failed to wear face masks, Nolen tweeted.
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