schiphol

The first repatriation flight from Morocco landed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam at around 00:30 a.m. on Monday. The Boeing 767 of travel agency TUI departed from Casablanca on Sunday evening. There were around 300 Dutch aboard, according to AD.

The passengers on the first repatriation flight involved Netherlands residents with an urgent need to get home, such as people who need medicines or medical care.

A shipment of 800 thousand masks arrived at Schiphol from China on Monday morning, Minister Martin van Rijn for Medical Care confirmed on Goedemorgen Nederland. The shipment also included 30 thousand pairs of protective glasses, and 30 thousand insulating coats, the Minister said on Twitter.

According to broadcaster NOS, the masks involved are professional FFP2 masks, which were quality checked and approved by the Netherlands in Shanghai. An agreement on this was made with the Chinese government, the broadcaster writes.

Netherlands residents are divided about how to deal with the coronavirus crisis in combination with the climate crisis. 13 percent think that all attention must now be given to fighting Covid-19, and the fight against climate change should be put on the back burner. But 28 percent see the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to rebuild the Netherlands in a more sustainable way, according to a survey by I&O Research. 

Schiphol Airport went smoke-free starting on Wednesday, closing the last of its designated smoking areas located in the secured parts of the airport. Smoking was already forbidden in areas outside of security checkpoints.

The square outside Schiphol Plaza, known as Jan Dellaertplein, is the last remaining place where passengers and visitors may smoke at the airport. The airport plans to move the smoking areas there further away from the plaza’s entries and exits.

Passengers on flights from New York will not be subject to extra screenings when they arrive at Schiphol airport. Their temperature will not be measures and they won't be asked about symptoms, a spokesperson for Schiphol said to RTL Nieuws. "That is currently the policy in the Netherlands. That policy is determined by the government, not by Schiphol," the spokesperson said.

New York was hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Of the over 2 thousand deaths in the country, over 700 happened in New York. 

Some 43 coronavirus patients died in the Netherlands since Saturday, with the nation now mourning the loss of 179 people, public health agency RIVM said on Sunday. The agency also announced that another 573 tested positive for the virus, pushing the total number of diagnosed patients to 4,204, nearly four-times the number of patients recorded on March 15.

Just one week ago, the total number of patients in the Netherlands was 1,077. By that date, a total of 20 people who tested positive for the virus had died, a figure which has increased by 800 percent in the past seven days.

Dozens of countries and territories implemented emergency measures to contain or prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in their lands on Saturday. While Dutch airline KLM said it would work to repatriate passengers, its subsidiary Transavia recommend people scheduled on cancelled flights quickly rebook their tickets to an available option if possible.

As a response, the Dutch government updated its travel advice to 14 different countries. A short description of these advisories follows this article.

The Netherlands will begin banning the arrival of flights from several countries among the most affected by the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. The decision will affect flights from China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy and South Korea, said Infrastructure Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen on Friday after a meeting with Cabinet members.

Donald Trump's decision to ban flights between Europe and the United states is "potentially very drastic", Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday. "We have very intensive relationships, a lot of people- and a lot of trade traffic." The Minister will examine whether the travel advice for the United States needs to be adjusted, he said to NOS.

Due to coronavirus Covid-19, KLM is canceling all its flights to Venice, Milan and Naples in Italy until at least April 3rd, the Dutch airline announced on Wednesday. Earlier this week, KLM said it was canceling some 25 percent of its flights to the southern European country. KLM flights to other Italian destinations are still running according to schedule, RTL Nieuws reports.

KLM put a red line through twelve of its departures to Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The Dutch airline will still fly to infected areas, but at a lower frequency, eliminating at least 25 percent of its flights to Italy this week through March 15th.