The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the State Department, raised COVID-19 travel advisory levels for several countries yesterday, while lowering the warning on travel to India.
With the highly contagious Delta variant causing renewed COVID-19 concerns in countries around the world, the U.S. government maintains its ongoing effort to quantify the risk levels associated with foreign travel.
Travel warnings have been changing on a weekly basis as the crisis continues, and this week the CDC and State Department both lowered their advisories on India to a Level 2, indicating a "moderate" risk level and a recommendation to "exercise increased caution" if traveling there.
COVID-19 case rates in India have lessened considerably since peaking in May, when the country was seeing more than 2 million cases arise each week. Weekly case counts have remained in the range of about 200,000 since July, Travel + Leisure reported.
The U.S. began restricting travel from India in April, as the Delta variant, which originated there, was spreading like wildfire. The White House has said that it won't be changing the policy at this time, but that it's working on a plan to hopefully allow fully-vaccinated Indian visitors in the future.
Also yesterday, the CDC elevated its warning level for four other destinations to its highest-level designation, Level 4, which corresponds to "very high" risk of COVID-19 transmission, while the State Department's equivalent recommendation is "do not travel": Dominica, Montenegro, Turkey and the British island of Jersey.
Turkey and Montenegro had previously been in the Level 3, or "high" COVID-19 incidence, category, while the Caribbean island of Dominica was before listed as a Level 1, or a low-risk destination, according to CNN. For the British Crown dependency of Jersey, COVID-19 levels had previously been listed as "unknown".
Meanwhile, other destinations transitioned into the Level 3 category, which signifies "high" COVID-19 levels or a "reconsider travel" warning, depending upon which agency you're referencing. Chile, Mozambique and Uruguay were lowered from a previous Level 4 rating, while Kosovo and North Macedonia were raised from Level 2.
Per CDC criteria, destinations that have earned themselves a Level 4 "very high" or "do not travel" advisory are those reporting more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days. Level 3 ratings are applied to countries that are currently reporting between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 residents over the same period.
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