From 6 p.m. on Monday evening, passenger flights from India are no longer allowed to land at Schiphol. The cabinet has decided that because of the high number of infections in that country. More than 300,000 new infections have been diagnosed in India every day in the past four days. There is now from all over the world promised help.
Flights with cargo and medical personnel will remain permitted and the flight ban will provisionally apply until 1 May. About seven flights from India come to the Netherlands every week. Most passengers transfer to another flight at Schiphol.
Lots of infections
In contrast to, for example, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada, the Netherlands did not yet have a flight ban from India. Travelers to the Netherlands were advised to go into quarantine, but many people ignore that.
There is uncertainty about the Indian changes and the government wants to prevent the Netherlands from becoming a preferred option for passengers from India when entering the European Union. The decision follows partly on the basis of an urgent advice from the RIVM.
In India, the number of corona infections has increased sharply in recent weeks. “The virus has now also penetrated into areas where there had been few cases before,” said correspondent Aletta André Wednesday.
Dutch aid
Minister Kaag (Development Cooperation) announced tonight to donate 2.5 million euros to the Red Cross for corona emergency aid, 1 million of which will go to India.
The contribution is in addition to the support provided by the Netherlands through the international Covax program, which regulates vaccines for poor countries. Two weeks ago, the Netherlands gave an extra contribution of 40 million to Covax. Part of that contribution already benefits India.
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