Welcome To 'Hotel Omicron' That Tells A Gripping True Story With Thriller Movie-like Plot

"Welcome to the "Hotel Omicron" in the Netherlands, where a couple of quarantine fugitives have just discovered that you can check out any time you like, but you can't leave."

This is how global media reported the saga of the Dutch hotel that is currently home to the world's biggest confirmed cluster of cases of the new Omicron variant. But this is not the story that we're telling you today.

Ramada hotel near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is at the center of a controversy and raises many questions about quarantine that makes for a sequence exactly out of a thriller film gone wrong.

AFP

How the sequence of events unfolds

Here's how it goes.

The clientele of the hotel is usually passengers whose flights are late or conference attendees, said Dicky, an experienced local taxi driver, as reported by AFP.

It begins when Dutch authorities test 624 travellers who were on two flights from South Africa, where the new strain was first detected.

Among the 624 tested, 61 are found to be infected with coronavirus and out of those 14 are confirmed to have Omicron strain. Due to its proximity to the airport, they are all quarantined at the Ramada hotel.

But in this country which prides itself on its respect for personal freedoms, the dozens of people quarantined here are in theory policed only by individual responsibility.

AFP

So, no police presence is visible in front of the hotel, and the only sign of any security are two guards who politely ask journalists to stop filming, without success.

What happens next? Obviously, some people run away, if that isn't all, the authorities also let some go home because they're infected with just Covid-19 and not the omicron variant.

In circumstances that have still not been fully explained, one of the quarantined couples manages to leave the hotel unnoticed, gets to the airport and boards a plane bound for Spain.

Better late than never, police acts up and catches the 30-year-old Spanish man and the 28-year-old Portuguese woman just before take-off. Right after the couple must have infected at least dozens they crossed paths with through the entire episode.

Around 50 of the 61 people who tested positive on the South Africa flights are at the Ramada, but others are allowed to go home to quarantine instead.

This despite potentially being infected with what the World Health Organisation terms a "variant of concern" that poses a high risk globally.

Shutterstock

It goes on: One of the couple had tested positive for coronavirus , while the other was negative but had chosen to remain with their partner at the Ramada. And, the authorities let me choose, ofcourse.

And, what did the authorities have to say?

"The ministry of justice is investigating whether what they did is a crime or not," Petra Faber, a spokeswoman for the mayor of the local Haarlemmermeer municipality told AFP.

"In the Netherlands, it is not illegal to be outside when you have tested positive for COVID-19 . But when you go into a plane knowing you have it, then it is another story."

Netherlands has changed rules now

The upside is there's a change of rules. Those flying to the Netherlands from South Africa must now show a negative PCR test to board planes. The Omicron variant has also been found in Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy and the UK.

Reuters

A tightening of Covid restrictions has come into force in the Netherlands. For the next three weeks, hospitality and cultural venues, including bars, cafes, museums, and cinemas, must close by 5pm local time.

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