The testing protocols have changed for travelers to Bonaire.
Mandatory PCR test and antigen test now required for travelers from high-risk countries to Bonaire.
Travelers flying to Bonaire from the Netherlands will soon be required to take a PCR test and an antigen test before departure. These conditions also apply to travelers from high-risk countries such as the US and Canada who fly to Bonaire.
The Netherlands will impose a flight ban for the United Kingdom, South America, and South Africa beginning January 23, 2021, due to the many infections of the modified coronavirus in those countries. The flight ban for those countries also applies to flights to Bonaire.
Passengers from Bonaire traveling to the Netherlands do not need to take a PCR test and antigen test before departure, as Bonaire is a low-risk area for the Netherlands.
It will most likely take two weeks for the condition of an antigen test to be introduced for travelers from the Netherlands to Bonaire because the law, the ministerial regulation, must first be amended which is expected to take two weeks.
Travelers from the Netherlands to Bonaire must take the PCR test no more than 72 hours before arrival on the island and the antigen test no more than four hours before departure. They must complete a health statement from the Public Health Department no later than 72 hours and no later than 48 hours before departure.
Nothing will change for passengers from Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten who go to Bonaire.
These passengers still need to do a PCR test no later than 72 hours before arrival on Bonaire and digitally fill in the PG health statement. Passengers from Saba and St. Eustatius traveling to Bonaire only need to digitally fill in the PG health declaration under the conditions that apply.
KLM may cease intercontinental flights.
After the Netherlands announced the flight ban, KLM announced in the media that the airline will no longer operate intercontinental flights from 23 January 2021. According to KLM, it is impossible to have the flight crew take the antigen test on these flights when they return. But the company’s personnel do not have to take an antigen test when they return to the Netherlands because Bonaire is a low-risk country. Until now it is unclear whether the airline will indeed stop intercontinental flights.
The countries that are included in the flight ban are United Kingdom, Cape Verde, South Africa, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Travelers from high-risk countries are subject to the mandatory PCR test and the antigen test.
(Source: OLB)
