From December 30, travelers going from the United States to the Netherlands will have to go into quarantine for at least five days. Furthermore, upon entry to the country, they must have a negative coronavirus test to enter the country.
Those entering are mandated to have a 10-day quarantine period unless they have a negative test administered from a regional health board center after the first five days.
The measure implemented by the Dutch foreign ministry on Wednesday comes after the US has shifted into being a very high-risk country. Following the advice of public health institute RIVM, which noted that the US moved from a high-risk country to one with a very high risk, suggested the introduction of quarantine.
The Netherlands’ health minister Hugo de Jonge also wrote a letter to parliament on Wednesday advocating for additional rounds of booster shots. As such, the country could be preparing for two boosters in 2022 and another in 2023 to fight new variants.
A record 440,000 coronavirus infections were registered in the US, surpassing the peak levels from last winter. With the rapid spread of the delta and Omicron variant, there has been a +153% daily case bump to now have a daily average of 301,472.
Currently, at least 62% of the US population is fully vaccinated while 73% have at least one dose. The United States ranks 15th on the share of people vaccinated against COVID-19, December 29 according to Our World in Data.