The Netherlands has declared that all travelers over the age of 12 from the United States will be subject to a 10-day quarantine upon arrival, according to an announcement from the official website of the Government of the Netherlands.
The quarantine requirement comes after the Netherlands classified the United States as a ‘very high-risk area without a variant of concern.’
“Everyone aged 12 and over is required by law to self-quarantine for 10 days on arrival in the Netherlands after a stay in a very high-risk area, including where there is a variant of concern,” reads the announcement.
Further, the quarantine requirements will be effective from 30 December 2021 at 00:01 (12:01 AM) forward.
All travelers to The Netherlands will be subject to quarantine, regardless of vaccination status, prior recovery from Covid-19, or negative test results prior to arrival.
The Netherlands’ quarantine requirements for travelers from high-risk areas, however, can be shortened from 10 to 5 days with a Covid-19 test taken on the 5th day of isolation. If the test comes back negative, the quarantine can be shortened.
In addition, some groups of travelers are already exempt from having to do the quarantine to begin with.
“If you get tested on day 5 of your self-quarantine and the result is negative, you may end your quarantine. Some travellers are exempted from the mandatory quarantine,” the announcement reads.
Groups exempted from mandatory quarantine, according to the government website, include:
- Children under 12.
- People with a layover or transfer out of the country.
- People who, prior to arriving in the Netherlands, spent 10 or more days in an area not designated as high-risk.
- People staying in the country for less than 12 hours.
- People who spent less than 12 hours in an area designated as high-risk.
- Cross-border commuters for work or education.
- People attending funerals.
- “Necessary family visits.”
- Informal careers and co-parents.
- Healthcare professionals.
- Significant contributors to the Dutch economy.
- Urgent short-term trips.
- Top-level athletes.
- Journalists and researchers.
- People coming for cultural activities.
- Energy sector professionals.
- Passenger and goods transportation staff, including maritime staff.
- Criminal court proceeding staff.
- Government members or civil servants.
- Heads of state, or officials of foreign governments.
- Personnel associated with designated international and humanitarian organizations.
- Officials performing duties of national interest, including foreign diplomatic and military personnel.
Where some Schengen and EU Member States change their quarantine requirements for different modes of transport into the country, The Netherlands is saying that the requirements stay the same for every mode of transportation into the country.
“The mandatory quarantine requirement applies regardless of how travellers enter the country; be it by air, train, bus/coach or car,” the announcement reads.
The Netherlands has classified the following countries as ‘high-risk without a variant of concern,’ meaning that while there is still no particular variant to worry about in the following countries, case numbers are high enough to concern the government:
- Afghanistan
- Anguilla
- Barbados
- Cayman Islands
- Dominica
- Georgia
- Haiti
- Jordan
- Mauritius
- Montenegro
- Somalia
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- Venezuela
The following countries are classified by The Netherlands as ‘high-risk areas where there is a variant of concern,’ meaning that the ‘variant of concern’ is most likely the Omnicron variant:
- Botswana
- Eswatini
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nigeria
- South Africa
- Zimbabwe
To read the complete list of people exempted from quarantine, click this link.
To read the Dutch Government’s announcement and their list of high-risk areas, click this link.
