ORANJESTAD - Aruba decided on Friday to no longer allow passengers from Curaçao without a negative corona test. If travelers cannot prove this, they must be quarantined for 10 days.

For a few weeks, free passenger traffic has been possible again between the two islands, but according to Aruba, the situation has changed now that Curaçao has seen a significant increase in the number of infections.

Last Wednesday, 315 in Curaçao were infected with the virus. On Saturday, that number had risen to 691, with 62 new infections in the past 24 hours.

In Aruba, 8 new infections were registered on Thursday. In total there are now 79 infections on the island.

Aruba was still badly hit in September. Then the island had more than 1600 infections. There, 45 corona patients have died since March, three on Curaçao.

Due to the increase in the number of recent infections, passengers from Curaçao are now only allowed to enter Aruba with a negative PCR test. They can also choose to take a test in Aruba at their own expense.