Netherlands changes travel alerts for Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Latvia & Sweden

The Netherlands has downgraded its Covid-19 travel advice from code orange to code yellow for all, or part of five European countries. The new advice is set to enter into force on Thursday, July 1, the same day the Dutch CoronaCheck app is supposed to be valid across the European Union.

The EU has said the Netherlands is ready to connect to the bloc's system for managing Digital Covid Certificates, but it has not yet established the connection.

The travel advice has been updated for the entire countries of Denmark, Latvia, and Sweden, to take effect from Thursday. The code yellow travel advice suggests that traveling to a certain region is possible but with cautionary remarks about limited health or safety risks. Entering the Netherlands from a code yellow area often means that a traveler does not need a negative coronavirus test result before departing. Quarantine is usually not needed upon arrival.

The Belgian capital Brussels will also be considered a code yellow area for Dutch travelers. With this update, the entire country will be at the yellow alert level. After visiting Belgium, the Netherlands residents are not subject to quarantine or mandatory testing upon their return.

The same will apply to the Greek capital Athens. With the revised travel advice, traveling anywhere in Greece is now possible for Dutch tourists with no extra conditions imposed by the Netherlands.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs specifically pointed out that the travel advice for mainland Spain remained at the orange level, meaning only urgently necessary trips should be taken. The same was true for the greater metropolitan area of Lisbon, Portugal. The Cabinet was concerned about the hundreds of people who tested positive for the coronavirus infection after returning to the Netherlands from Portugal and Spain in June.

Dutch Health Minister Hugo De Jonge has once again called on residents returning from a holiday to get tested for the coronavirus infection. He explained that everyone, including people returning from regions under the less serious code yellow or code green travel alerts, should get tested.

De Jonge hoped that a fourth wave of infections could be prevented from happening during and after the summer.