From next Tuesday, travelers arriving at Schiphol from China will be required to show a negative corona test certificate before entering the Netherlands. That made Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health, D66) known Friday. Passengers are also urgently requested to wear a face mask on flights to and from China. Previously, passengers from China were already offered a self-test on arrival, but were not obliged to use it or have it checked.
Last week, the minister warned that there is no legal basis on which entry restrictions can be implemented. The temporary corona legislation that underpinned previous corona measures was elaborated in May last year. That is why the government is resorting to a trusted last resort: the emergency ordinance.
No emergency Senate hearing
The Public Health Act, which gives corona measures a legal basis, is now before the Senate. Kuipers previously urged the senate to deal with the law “in the shortest possible time”, but has now decided not to wait for that process. The Senate factions present unanimously ruled on Friday that emergency treatment would not be appropriate. They point out that the cabinet itself took a long time to draft the bill, and that the House of Representatives only approved the bill shortly before the Christmas recess.
The government joins a series of other European countries that have introduced corona border controls for travelers from China. On Wednesday, Brussels already urged member states to have passengers from China tested and to urgently advise them to wear medical face masks. Kuipers is complying with the European line with the new measures, on the advice of the Outbreak Management Team and the Social Impact Team, whom he asked for advice last week.
Earlier, Italy, Spain and France announced that they would contain the spread of the virus from China through similar measures. The rules are also being tightened outside the European Union: India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan announced new measures at.
Read also More European countries are introducing corona measures for travelers from China
Unprecedented increase in infections
China pursued a particularly repressive corona control policy for two years, including closing entire apartment blocks when an infection was detected. After large-scale protests against the measures and the regime, the government decided to scale down the measures. Since then, infections have risen at an unprecedented rate: a leaked government presentation showed that the government estimates that 37 million infections took place in the country in one day.
Read also Should Europe fear a new wave of viruses? And three other questions about the Chinese corona crisis
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