BRUSSELS — The Netherlands has lifted its blanket ban on travelers from Britain and South Africa from Wednesday and replaced it with the requirement they provide a negative coronavirus test result from Dec. 23.

“The ban on passenger flights from South Africa and the ban on both sea and air travel for passengers from the United Kingdom will be lifted as of Wednesday, Dec. 23,” said a Dutch Foreign Ministry announcement.

These bans will be replaced by a requirement that prior to the start of the their trip, all passengers — including EU nationals — must be in possession of a declaration documenting a recent negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, the ministry indicated.

“Once they arrive in the Netherlands, all passengers are strongly urged to quarantine themselves for a period of 10 days,” it said.

This means that at the start of their trip, all passengers over the age of 12 — including EU nationals — must have a printed document showing they have had a recent, negative PCR test.

Travelers will have to present the test result, which must be no older than 72 hours, when they board an airplane in South Africa or either a boat or airplane in the UK heading for the Netherlands.

“Anyone who does not have a negative test declaration will be denied boarding. This also applies to Dutch and EU citizens returning from the United Kingdom or South Africa,” the government said in a statement.

“In addition, the government has decided to introduce a further requirement as soon as possible which will make the negative PCR test declaration mandatory for all passengers — including Dutch and EU nationals — entering the Netherlands from abroad.”

The rule requiring passengers to submit a negative test declaration before the start of their trip has been in effect since Dec. 15 for people living outside the EU and was due to be expanded to include Britain from Jan. 1.

The government has also reiterated that people should not travel abroad at all unless strictly necessary. The ban on travel from Britain was imposed on Sunday, stranding hundreds of people, including many students, who were trying to get to the Netherlands for Christmas.

The Netherlands introduced the measure in an effort to keep out a new strain of coronavirus which is said to be more contagious and which is rampant in Britain. — Agencies