Code orange for St. Maarten travel

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague raised its travel advisory for St. Maarten from yellow to orange, on Sunday morning. People are urged to only travel to and from the island for urgent reasons.

The ministry decided to advise against vacation travel to St. Maarten and to recommend only travelling to the island if absolutely necessary, due to the increase in the number of active COVID-19 cases in the past week. Per August 1, a total of 58 active cases were reported. Travelers from St. Maarten arriving in the Netherlands are urgently advised to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Daily Herald understands that some 40 St. Maarten students who will be arriving on a Royal Dutch Airlines KLM flight on Wednesday morning will have been tested before they boarded the flight. This is to avoid a quarantine so the students can participate in their introduction programme.

St. Maarten is the first Dutch Caribbean island for which Foreign Affairs has issued code orange. “Non-essential travel to St. Maarten is advised against due to the large increase in the number of COVID-19 contaminations and the associated risk,” Foreign Affairs stated on its website on Sunday.

In case of travelling to St. Maarten for urgent reasons, passengers must fill in a health declaration prior to travelling, via the website https://stmaartenentry.com/.

They must also submit a negative result of a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test obtained no more than 72 hours prior to departure and have travel insurance. Passengers are advised to stay informed via the website https://stmaartenupdates.com/.

The travel advisory of Foreign Affairs for Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao is yellow, meaning that passengers should be aware of safety risks. Last week, Curaçao already issued a negative travel advisory for St. Maarten.

The Daily Herald.