- The Netherlands has just announced new travel restrictions in response to the new variants of the COVID-19.
- Travelers from non-European countries should take a quick test four hours after the flight.
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, in response, canceled all of its long-haul flights.
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The Dutch government announced a new COVID-19-related blockade on Wednesday that severely limits international travel, prompting the airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to suspend all of its long-haul flights, according to Reuters.
The new requirements required by the government require passengers to obtain a negative result from the COVID-19 rapid test up to four hours before departure to the Netherlands. In addition, passengers must also have a negative PCR test performed within 72 hours of flight departure in order to enter the country.
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The restrictions are some of the most stringent imposed by any national government at the end of the pandemic and the country expects travel to decline sharply as a result. In January, KLM had plans to serve more than 30 countries outside Europe, with about 270 weekly long-distance departures, according to data from Reuters and Cirium.
Travelers should still be quarantined, even with the two negative tests, for at least five days before they can take the test with a negative PCR test. If a negative test result is not received after five days, the quarantine may end after 10 days.
The Netherlands also announced a ban on passenger flights from the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. KLM currently serves eight of these countries.
The UK passenger flight ban, which was initially issued in December, has also been extended. The new travel restrictions in these countries must last at least a month or until legislation is passed that sets out the quarantine requirements for these travelers.
“The government is seriously concerned about the British variant of the coronavirus, which is even more infectious than the virus we are familiar with in the Netherlands,” the government said in a statement.
Caribbean Holland is also affected by the new order, according to the statement, which means that travel may be affected to Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, as well as to the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including Aruba, Sint Maarten and Curaçao. .
Bonaire recently opened its air borders with North America with direct flight plans to the US in February.
International travel is being discouraged for residents in the Netherlands until at least March 31, 2021. “Every trip a person takes increases the chance of causing more infections or bringing new variants of the coronavirus to the Netherlands.”
At the domestic level, citizens of the Netherlands are advised not to have more than one daily visit over the age of 13 and not to do more than one daily visit to another family. A curfew is also being planned to keep residents indoors between 8:30 pm and 4:30 am.
The Netherlands is also restricting which types of travelers will be exempted from entering the country during the pandemic. As a result, groups including business travelers and students will be barred from entering.
The government also made a point of noting that “people in long-distance romantic relationships who wish to travel to the Netherlands for a short time will no longer be allowed to enter.”
“We don’t want to look back in a few weeks and realize that we haven’t done enough,” said the statement.