CDC warns against travelling to 22 countries with ‘very high’ levels of Covid-19

Do not travel to Australia but do visit China if vaccinated, suggests the CDC’s Covid Health Travel Notices

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel warning against 22 new destinations over rising Covid-19 cases, including highly-vaccinated countries like Australia and Israel.

Travellers are better off visiting China under the agency’s Covid Travel Health Notices, as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic is one of the few countries ranked the on CDC’s the lowest warning level.

The CDC now recommends avoiding travel to more than 100 destinations in its "Level Four: Very High" category with this week’s new additions amid a worldwide Omicron surge.

Among the latest additions to the Level 4 list are countries with the most fully or partially vaccinated populations, including Argentina (86 per cent) Australia (82 per cent) Uruguay (81 per cent), Bermuda (75 per cent), Israel (72 per cent), and Panama (70 per cent), according to Our World in Data.

Other countries added to the highest warning level include Albania, Bahrain, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Grenada, Guyana, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Suriname, Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Destinations are added to the CDC’s “Very High” level 4 category when more than 500 cases of Covid per 100,000 residents are recorded in the most recent 28 day period.

The agency has listed China among the 17 destinations in its Level 1 “Low” category, or fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 in 28 days. Level 1, which recommends vaccination before travel, also includes countries like Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Another 22 new countries were added to its “Level 3: High” Covid level category, which recommends that anyone without a vaccine avoid nonessential travel.

These include Costa, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Fiji, Gabon, Ghana, Jamaica, Kuwait, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Paraguay, The Philippines, Saba, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Sint Eustatius, Togo, and Uganda.