Whilst previously only the regions of Antwerp and Brussels were orange-risk, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that this status will now apply to the entire country of Belgium.
Dutch residents are advised to only travel to Belgium if necessary. This adjustment in travel advice follows Belgium’s decision to classify regions of the Netherlands, such as South-Holland, North-Holland and Utrecht as red-risk zones. Travel from these regions to Belgium was already discouraged.
Given the current spike in coronavirus cases across the Netherlands, this is understandable.
Reisadvies #Belgie: Reizigers uit heel Nederland worden (afhankelijk vd provincie) geadviseerd of verplicht in quarantaine te gaan en zich te testen als ze in België aankomen.
Daarom gaat het reisadvies naar ‘oranje’: alleen noodzakelijke reizen:https://t.co/pdzaGr1VAg pic.twitter.com/bOZVnqn3oN
— 24/7 BZ (@247BZ) September 28, 2020
If you do travel to Belgium…
If you must travel to Belgium from these regions, there are certain restrictions you must follow. Travellers are expected to take a corona test if they are staying for at least 48 hours. They must then quarantine for two weeks. If you are there for less than two weeks but more than 48 hours, then you are still expected to quarantine.
Exceptions to the measures
If, however, you have travelled to Belgium for necessary reasons such as a business meeting or a funeral, then you may interrupt the quarantine period for this purpose.
In fact, quarantine and testing is not necessary in a number of cases. For those who are only in the country for less than 48 hours, a test is not required, nor is quarantine.
On top of this, those who are not travelling from North-Holland, South-Holland, Utrecht or any other red-risk zone, are not strictly required to take a test or quarantine. However, such measures are still strongly advised.
Returning to the Netherlands
Those who are returning from Brussels-Capital Region, the city of Antwerp, the province of Liège or the province of Walloon Brabant, are expected to quarantine themselves for 10 days.
Again, quarantine is not mandatory for those returning from other regions of Belgium but it is strongly advised.
Have your travel plans been affected by coronavirus? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image: Tobias Cornille/ Unsplash
