The Prime Minister of The Netherlands, Mark Rutte, announced earlier today, (Wednesday January 20), that his government will ban flights from South Africa, the UK and a list of South American countries, for a month, starting from Saturday, January 23.
This is reportedly due to the finding that one Covid-19 case in ten in The Netherlands is attributable to the SA/UK virus variants, and this number is expected to increase to 50% by mid-February.
Rutte said at a press conference that the slow decrease in the rate of infections, and the appearance of the new variants, have forced the government to take tougher action.
The flight ban also applies to passenger flights from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Furthermore, the Dutch government has issued a strict travel advisory to its own citizens: do not travel abroad and do not book any trips abroad in the period up to and including March 31.
