Border police at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport have turned away almost 1,000 people trying to enter the Netherlands so far this year, of whom 302 were in breach of coronavirus regulations.

The largest group of foreign nationals arriving at Schiphol, despite borders being closed to all but essential travellers, were from the US, the Telegraaf reported on Thursday.

‘We have our hands full with refusals and research at the border because of the Covid-19 rules,’ spokesman Stan Verberkt told the paper. ‘And we are also being flooded with questions from travellers who no longer know what is, and is not, allowed.’

Pressure on border police has increased this week, now the Netherlands has agreed to admit the foreign partners of people who were stranded abroad since the start of the epidemic.

Prior to Covid-19 some 200,000 people passed through Schiphol on busy days, but that is now more than 50,000, the paper said.