COVID information

Within the current Dutch measures against the coronavirus we can organise a safe and responsible meeting. This workshop, however, will be slightly different from other workshops and conferences. At the conference site, De Doelen, we will have four rooms for parallel sessions, and each PhD student will be assigned to one of these rooms. To reduce the number of contacts, you have to stay in your assigned room for the entire meeting, so session hopping is not allowed. Furthermore, the rooms will have their breaks separately as well as different starting and ending times to reduce the number of contacts. The rooms are large enough to guarantee that 1.5m distance can be kept easily.

As a service we collected the most relevant measures against the coronavirus from Dutch and Belgian governmental websites:

  • As of June 5: The maximum group size will increase to 4 people. This means that you can be outdoors with three other people. Or you can engage in an outdoor activity with 3 other people. But you must still keep 1.5 metres apart from people outside your household or family. (source)
  • As of June 5, for large venues: The maximum number of visitors in one space is 50, at a distance of 1.5 metres apart. Large venues with 1,000 seats or more, however, may admit up to 250 visitors, 1.5 metres apart. (source)
  • As of June 5, for restaurants, cafés and bars: Establishments serving food and drink can be open from 06.00 to 22.00. Everyone must have an assigned seat at a table. Sitting at the bar is not permitted. A maximum of 4 people are allowed to sit at a table and they must be seated 1.5 metres apart. This does not apply to children under the age of 13 or people who are part of the same household. A maximum of 50 people applies, excluding staff. The same maximum applies to outdoor seating areas. Restaurants and cafés can serve dinner in a maximum of two sittings per table per evening. Self-service is not allowed. Entertainment such as live performances or television screens showing sporting events are also not permitted. A reservation, health check and assigned seat are mandatory. (source)

Related to traveling from Belgium to the Netherlands and vice-versa, the following rules apply:

  • Travel is permitted, however, it is strongly discouraged. (source)
  • There is no need to fill out a BTA (Business Travel Abroad) form, since travel is less than 48 hours. (source)
  • Upon return to Belgium there is no need for filling out a PLF (Passenger Localisation Form), since travel is less than 48 hours. (source)
  • Upon return to Belgium you do not have to quarantine. (source)
  • If you are travelling to the Netherlands by aircraft, ship, train or coach from a high-risk area, you must get tested for coronavirus. You must present the negative test result before departure (source). People arriving in the Netherlands by car currently do not need to present a negative test result. (source)
  • The requirement of being able to show a negative result does not hold if you are coming from a safe-country. Currently Belgium is not on that list, but it might be by June 29, so if you are not planning to come by car, keep an eye on that list of safe countries.
  • As long as your stay to the Netherlands is less than 12 hours, you are exempt from quarantine (source).

Be aware that your university might impose additional travel restrictions.