European countries that were set to 'orange' will in principle receive a 'green' or 'yellow' travel advice from Tuesday. This means that non-essential travel is no longer recommended. The cabinet has decided to adjust the system, so that member states of the European Union are no longer put on orange solely on the basis of the infection numbers. This can happen if a new variant of the coronavirus emerges.
Incidentally, it is possible that EU countries themselves take additional measures for travelers from the Netherlands. The cabinet therefore still refers to the website Wijsopreis.nl, where the measures are indicated per country. Outgoing care minister Hugo de Jonge and Prime Minister Mark Rutte have announced the new policy after a corona consultation with ministers.
Return
The Dutch will soon also have to show a corona certificate when they return from another EU country. It can be a vaccination certificate, a negative test result or proof that they have recently had corona and have recovered. The negative test may be a PCR test up to 48 hours old, or an antigen test up to 24 hours old. The rule applies to people aged 12 and older and is intended "to prevent the coronavirus from being taken home".
Testing after five days
The rule will come into effect on August 8 for all EU countries, but already applies to people coming from Spain, Portugal, Cyprus or Andorra. People who have been to a country with a yellow travel advice are advised to do a self-test on the day of arrival and on the fifth day back in the Netherlands or to have themselves tested at the GGD. People who have been to an EU country are not obliged to go into quarantine, except in a country where a new variant of the corona virus has emerged.
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