Travellers looking to travel to the Netherlands from a Covid-19 risk area will be required to provide a negative test for the virus within the last 72 hours, following a new rule which goes into effect today (Tuesday).
The requirement - which currently applies to most of the world, including Belgium - is an extension of the rule already in place for travellers from the United Kingdom and South Africa, due to the new variant of the virus detected there.
The rule applies to all passengers, including Dutch nationals and nationals of other EU and Schengen countries. According to the information from the Dutch government, the measure applies to anyone travelling by aircraft, ferry or international intercity train or coach travelling more than 30km into the Netherlands from the border.
The measure, however, does not stretch to people arriving in the Netherlands by car.
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It will be the responsibility of airlines and other transport companies will have to check the negative test report before allowing boarding. If a passenger is unable to present a negative test result, they may not travel to the Netherlands and will not be permitted to board the aircraft or ferry.
The Netherlands saw a drop in cases of coronavirus infections last week compared to the previous week, the first decline in a long time. More than 770,000 people have been infected in the country and 11,000 people died due to Covid-19.
The Brussels Times
