KLM to provide medical masks to Chinese flight attendants due to Covid fears

Photo: DutchNews.nl

The airline KLM said Wednesday it was taking special safety measures on flights from China due to concerns about the coronavirus among its crew.

Staff are now equipped with medical-quality FFP2 face masks and protective goggles and have their own restroom facilities to reduce the spread of the virus. Masks were already mandatory for both crew and passengers.

Contact between crew and passengers is also kept to a minimum.

KLM operates three flights a week to China, which will double by the end of the month.

Coronavirus infections in China have surged since all restrictions were lifted last month, and many countries, including the United States, Japan and Italy, have introduced compulsory testing of passengers.

Starting Thursday, the Netherlands will offer free coronavirus testing to passengers arriving from China, but the aim is not to reduce infections, but to establish what the prevalent subspecies are in China.

Passengers found to be infected with coronavirus are not subject to quarantine.

In addition, the RIVM Institute of Public Health is stepping up surveillance of coronavirus particles in waste water at Schiphol Airport and is monitoring various subspecies.