Netherlands: changes in COVID-19 restrictions

The experience of the world in a pandemic is one of the strangest, but also the most difficult, experiences we face today. Fear for your life and health and those of your loved ones, the inability to travel and enjoy pleasures such as eating out, going to the cinema, clubs, and festivals or simply looking at people’s faces (not masks) make us feel a lot of stress and tension. More and more countries, including the Netherlands, are loosening sanitary restrictions. Will we be able to enjoy normality again thanks to this? Yes, but (of course) under a few conditions.

Social distance

In the Netherlands, 85 percent of people have been vaccinated at least once, i.e. around 1.8 million inhabitants of this country have still not received the COVID vaccine. Due to the high percentage of vaccination coverage, the government decides to ease the restrictions. It was decided to abandon the need to maintain a 1.5-meter social distance (which no one had cared about for a long time). Now you can get closer to other people (although certainly, not everyone will enjoy it).

Covid Pass

If you want to take advantage of dining options, cultural or sports events, you can do so after presenting your covid pass. It takes the form of a QR code confirming vaccination, recovery from COVID-19, or a negative test result within 24 hours. The tests are free! Thanks to this solution, open-air events and festivals can be held without limiting the number of people. Indoor events can also be organized, but the participants leave them like Cinderella, her dream ball – at midnight.

Mandatory masks and quarantine

Wearing the mask is still valid on the bus, subway, tram, train, and plane. Masks should be worn at the airport, but not at train or bus stations. Students in the class also do not have to wear masks. When it comes to quarantine, we also have good news: those returning from abroad do not need to quarantine, and this also applies to vaccinated travelers from high-risk countries.