(Update) Negative test result mandatory for most travellers to NL

Everyone over the age of 12 arriving in the Netherlands from a high risk area by plane, boat, train or coach will have to be able to show a negative coronavirus test from December 29, the Dutch government has confirmed.

Given that the rest of the world is classified as either red or orange, this means that everyone travelling to the Netherlands by plane will have to hand over a negative PCR test result no older than 72 hours before boarding.

The test requirement was introduced for travellers from Britain and South Africa on Thursday and was introduced for all non-EU residents on December 15.

It will now apply to all passengers, including Dutch nationals, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement. New arrivals are also being urged to go into quarantine for 10 days.

The government said earlier it was looking at options for expanding the stricter entry requirements to EU passengers travelling to the Netherlands by other means of transport, and finalised this step on Thursday.

Read the new rules

‘Transport operators are required to carry out checks either during boarding or during the journey, but always before the first stop in the Netherlands,’ the government said in a statement.

‘Operators may ask passengers who do not have a recent negative test declaration to leave the coach or train.’ The requirement will also apply to everyone arriving by boat, be it a ferry, ocean, sea or river cruiser.

Belgium has already imposed the negative test rule on residents of the Netherlands travelling to Belgium, and France has introduced the same requirement for Eurostar passengers travelling from the UK to the Netherlands, the ministry said.