AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – The Dutch health authorities are expected to make Sunday’s announcement about how many Omicron coronavirus cases have been detected in the Netherlands. This comes after 61 South Africans were tested for the virus.

The Netherlands Institute for Health (RIVM), said Saturday that they believe the new variant may be present in at the least some of the 600 positive cases discovered among the passengers on Friday’s two South African flights.

A spokesperson from RIVM said that although it believed it had detected cases of the newly discovered variant, further testing was required. The institute won’t say how many until they are certain. On Sunday, the spokesperson stated that results would be made public in the afternoon.

Omicron has been dubbed “variant of concern” by World Health Organization. This raises concerns about the possibility that Omicron might resist vaccinations. At least nine cases have been confirmed.

Dutch authorities began their investigation by testing the 624 passengers that arrived in Amsterdam from South Africa on Friday. Then, the Dutch government amended its regulations on traffic coming into the country from south Africa to address concerns. https://www.reuters.com/world/how-worried-should-we-be-about-omicron-variant-2021-11-27

The airport is keeping the 61 COVID-19-positive passengers in isolation.

The Dutch health authorities want to test approximately 5,000 passengers from South Africa, Botswana and Eswatini who traveled since Monday.

As many European countries struggle with coronavirus, worries over this variant are common.

The Netherlands has implemented rules that will force bars and restaurants to close at 5 pm on Sunday. This is in response to a flood of COVID-19 patients flooding the healthcare system.