Covid-19: US CDC warns against travel to 22 countries

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday advised against travel to 22 nations and territories because of a rising number of Covid-19 cases including for Australia, Israel, Egypt, Albania, Argentina and Uruguay.

The nation’s health protection agency elevated its travel recommendation to “level four: very high”, telling Americans they should avoid travel to those destinations, which also include Panama, Qatar, the Bahamas, Bahrain and Bolivia. In total, there are now over 100 countries on the CDC’s level four list.

Other countries on the level four list include Canada, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

“Do not travel internationally until you are fully vaccinated,” the CDC says on its website. “Getting vaccinated is still the best way to protect yourself from severe disease, slow the spread of Covid-19, and reduce the number of new variants. The CDC encourages you get a Covid-19 vaccine booster dose if you are eligible.”

The CDC also elevated an additional 20 countries to its “level three: high” list, which includes Uganda, Kuwait, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Cuba.

Last December, the CDC amended its October order titled “Requirement for Proof of Negative Covid-19 Test or Recovery from Covid-19 for All Air Passengers Arriving in the United States.” The amendment now requires air passengers two years or older with a flight departing to the US from a foreign country to present a negative test result taken no more than one day before travel.

Alternatively, passengers have to show documentation of having recovered from Covid in the past 90 days before boarding their flight. “Air passengers will also be required to confirm in the form of an attestation that the information they present is true,” the CDC said.

The order applies to all travelers, including US citizens and lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, unless exempted, the CDC has said.

As new infections increased by 20% worldwide over the past week, with approximately 19m total cases reported during the seven-day period, the World Health Organization has warned that the Omicron variant will not be the last Covid variant.

“Don’t abandon the science. Don’t abandon the strategies that are working, that are keeping us and our loved ones safe,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid technical lead, on Tuesday.

“This won’t be the last variant of concern,” she added, calling on governments to invest more in surveillance systems to track the virus as it mutates and spreads.

Source: Reuters, The Guardian