Netherlands, Belgium tell residents to stop cross-border travel

A joint statement from Cabinet ministers in the Netherlands and Belgium called on the residents of those countries to stop making unnecessary journeys across the border. Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Ferd Grapperhaus and Annelies Verlinden, the Minister of the Interior in Belgium, said on Friday that the reason is because both countries are fighting against the rising number of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections.

All of the Netherlands is subject to Belgium’s most extreme travel warning, while the Netherlands has issued a Code Orange alert for Belgium. Those departing Belgium for the Netherlands are supposed to enter quarantine in the Netherlands for ten days, and get tested for Covid-19 should symptoms arise. Anyone leaving the Netherlands to enter Belgium could be ordered into a mandatory Covid-19 test and a mandatory quarantine.

The border between the two countries will remains open, the governments affirmed. “Non-essential movements are not recommended. Crossing the border for a café or restaurant visit, or to go shopping for a day reinforces the spread of the virus on both sides of the border,” Verlinden said.

She asked people to use their sense of personal responsibility and solidarity with the people of both nations when deciding which trips across the border are truly necessary. Verlinden said that restrictions in both countries are unpleasant but necessary. “If we don’t stick to that now, we will soon have to end all social contacts. And nobody wants that.

”In a nutshell, “Don’t visit our Belgian neighbors for a while, don’t cross the border if you don’t have to,” Grapperhaus said.