In mid-August, GGD Kennemerland, in collaboration with Airport Amsterdam and four laboratories and with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense, started testing incoming travelers from risk areas at Schiphol, even though they have no complaints. This test street was started on a relatively small scale and the testing of travelers is done risk-based. The RIVM is investigating this test setting and the results should show the effect of testing travelers without complaints. 

Partly because of the increasing bottlenecks in the test capacity at the laboratories and the possibilities in the acceptance capacity, it was previously decided to set a ceiling of 1.200-1.400 tests per day for the number of travelers to be tested. This trial was completed last weekend. An evaluation will be carried out based on the available data. Based on this, the government will look at how to proceed with testing incoming travelers at airports. The availability of test capacity and innovative tests will be taken into account.

The 'trial corona test street at Amsterdam Schiphol' has been temporarily closed since last Sunday evening. This is what Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge has decided. This decision is the result of the fact that in the Netherlands the demand for corona tests has grown faster than the test capacity itself in recent weeks. The waiting times for a corona test are therefore very long. Minister de Jonge has therefore previously appealed to the population to only have it tested if there are complaints. 

The increasing waiting times are a major problem for people working in certain professions, if they want to be tested for the corona virus. These people are essential for the immediate maintenance of good care, among other things, in times of corona. The Minister has decided that healthcare workers and education staff can be tested as a priority temporarily and for as long as necessary. Minister de Jonge emphasizes in his brief to the cabinet that this priority regulation should not be at the expense of the testing capacity for other people with complaints. As soon as the test capacity meets the demand again, priority testing of certain professional groups is no longer necessary.

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