UK implements mandatory quarantine for travelers from Netherlands

Travelers from the Netherlands arriving in the United Kingdom will have to self-quarantine for 14 days, the British Transport Minister Grant Shapps announced on Thursday evening. This quarantine obligation takes effect at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday and also applies to travelers from Aruba, France, Monaco, Malta and the Turks and Caicos islands.

According to Shapps, this measure is necessary to keep the number of coronavirus infections in the UK from rising again. Belgium was removed from the list of "safe" countries last week.

Earlier on Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the UK must be "ruthless" in its fight against the pandemic. "Even to our best friends and good partners," he said, according to NU.nl. He previously also said that the British government will not hesitate to introduce new measures if they prevent infected persons from entering the country.