New rules until at least 9 February 2021 inclusive

The new measures are to be applied nationwide.

General:

• Work from home, unless this is really not possible.
• All establishments that serve food and drinks must close. Take-away will still be possible. 
• All non-essential shops and garden centres will be closed. Grocery stores and pharmacists may stay open.
• Both primary and secondary schools will be closed and switch to online education. Nurseries will also be closed.
• All locations with a continuous flow of people, such as cinemas, museums, theatres, amusement parks and zoos, will be closed.
• Contact professions, such as hairdressers and beauty studios have to close their doors.
• Medical contact professions such as dentists and physiotherapists may stay open.
• Fitness centers, swimming pools and saunas will be closed. Sports activities are only permitted outside, with a maximum of two people keeping a distance of 1.5 metres.
• No alcohol or soft drugs will be sold or delivered and you may not drink alcohol, use soft drugs or have them on your person in public spaces between 08.00 pm and 07.00 am.

Groups:

• At home you may have no more than one visitor per day, not counting children under 13. Moreover, you are only allowed to visit one other household per day.
• Outside homes, no more than 2 people or 1 household can go somewhere or do something together, not counting children under 13.

Face masks:

• Wear a face mask in indoor public spaces and on public transport if you are aged 13 or over. Passengers who do not wear a face mask can be fined €95.
• Passengers will be required to wear a non-medical face mask on trams, buses, water buses, metros and trains. Passengers who do not wear a face mask can be fined €95.
• For other shared forms of transport, such as taxis, passenger vans and coaches, passengers must reserve and must undergo a pre-travel health check. Non-medical face masks must also be worn.  

Curfew

Saturday January 23 a curfew across the Netherlands will come into effect. This means that everyone must stay inside between 9.00 pm and 4.30 am. In principle, the curfew will remain in force until 4.30 am on 10 February 2021. Curfew violations will be fined at 95 euros plus any administrative costs.

There will be some exceptions to the curfew:

1. In the event of an emergency;
2. You need urgent medical assistance, your pet needs urgent veterinary assistance or someone needs your urgent assistance;
3. Your employer requires you to leave your home for work;
4. You are travelling abroad or returning to the Netherlands;
5. You are going to or returning from a funeral and can prove this;
6. You are travelling in connection with a summons issued by a court or public prosecutor, or in connection with a court hearing in objection, judicial review or appeal proceedings, and you can prove this;
7. You are walking a dog on a leash. You do this on your own.

If it is necessary for you to go outside during the curfew, you must take a ‘curfew declaration’ with you. If you have to go out for your job, you must also be able to produce an employers declaration. In certain cases, no declaration is required. More information will follow soon.

Travel ban and Rapid tests

A ban on flights from the United Kingdom and a docking ban for ferries from the United Kingdom is in force. A flight ban is also in force for passenger flights from the following other countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. At present the flight ban is expected to remain in force for one month, or until planned legislation on mandatory quarantine rules for travellers is in place.

In addition, all passengers travelling to the Netherlands by air or sea from high-risk areas must be able to produce a negative result of a rapid COVID-19 test performed shortly before their departure. The test must not have been performed more than four hours prior to boarding the aircraft or ship. This requirement is in addition to the existing mandatory negative test result for a PCR test performed no more than 72 hours before arrival in the Netherlands. These measures also apply to people travelling to the Caribbean parts of the Netherlands.