flight bans for India, South America
NL: The cabinet has extended the flight ban for passenger flights from India, South Africa and South America until May 15. This is done on the advice of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT).
India has been banned from flying since Monday. The ban expired on May 1, but will be extended for two weeks. Dutch nationals currently in India are asked to seriously consider whether their presence in that country is strictly necessary.
Indian hospitals are overcrowded due to the enormous number of infections. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that there is a “real possibility” that medical assistance is not available for Dutch nationals in India who become infected.
India is badly affected by the corona virus. The daily number of new infections has been above 300,000 for some time and the daily number of deaths is nowhere higher in the world.
The capital New Delhi is subject to a general lockdown, as in many other cities and regions in the north of India.
The South America ban includes Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The ban also applies to flights from the Dominican Republic and Panama. The cabinet generally advises Dutch people not to travel to the Netherlands from abroad.
Cabinet wants to finalize quarantine obligation on 15 May
The OMT believes that the advice to go into quarantine is poorly followed by travelers. There is no question of a quarantine obligation yet. From May 15, the cabinet hopes to have the quarantine obligation politically regulated.
Even if the quarantine obligation is instituted, flight bans will always remain an option, for example to keep out dangerous coronavirus variants, according to outgoing minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (Infrastructure).
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