People travelling from the Netherlands to Britain will again be required to undergo two weeks quarantine on their arrival, British transport minister Grant Shapps has announced.

The requirement affects both Dutch tourists and international residents visiting friends and family, as well as people returning from a visit to the Netherlands.

Returning holidaymakers from France, Malta, Monaco and Aruba will also have to go into quarantine for 14 days because of the sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

‘We have got to be absolutely ruthless about this, even with our closest and dearest friends and partners. I think everybody understands that,’ British prime minister Boris Johnson said during a visit to Northern Ireland.

Holidaymakers returning to the Netherlands will not have to go into quarantine when they get back, the foreign ministry said. However, Britain will become a code orange country from Saturday morning, meaning that all but essential travel should be avoided.

Het #reisadvies voor het #VerenigdKoninkrijk gaat vannacht om 5 uur Nederlandse tijd op oranje.

Vanaf dat moment moet je na aankomst in het VK 2 weken in quarantaine.

Bij terugkomst in Nederland hoef je NIET in quarantaine.

Voor meer info: https://t.co/XnyIMkPuuv

— 24/7 BZ (@247BZ) August 14, 2020

As more and more travel restrictions are introduced, Morocco has halted all flights to and from the Netherlands, stranding hundreds of holidaymakers.

The cancellations follow the Netherlands’ decision to stop people from Morocco coming to the Netherlands, because of coronavirus concerns although foreign office officials told the Volkskrant that the two issues are unrelated.

The spokesman said flights have been halted because a bilateral agreement on direct flights has now expired and a new agreement has not yet been made.

Schiphol

Meanwhile, most people arriving from code orange countries at Schiphol airport avoided the new testing centre which opened for business on Thursday, the Volkskrant reported.

Three at-risk areas – Aruba, Mexico and New York – were singled out for testing during the first day. However, by early afternoon, just over 50 of the 160 passengers who had been approached agreed to undergo the procedure, the paper said.

‘It is what we expected,’ a local health board official told the paper. ‘Most people who have just been on a long journey want to get home, and hopefully will get a test later. But we can’t force them.’