by Donald Wood
Last updated: 5:00 PM ET, Thu March 19, 2020
The United States Department of State announced Thursday a Level 4 travel advisory for all international travel due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The Level 4 travel advisory is the most serious restriction and warns American citizens to avoid all travel abroad. For U.S. residents who are currently in other countries, they are being asked to return home or prepare to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
The U.S. was at a Level 3 travel warning before the update from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which encouraged American citizens to reconsider travel to other countries.
The decision to change the travel advisory comes around a week after U.S. President Donald Trump suspended all travel from Europe for 30 days, sans the United Kingdom. The updated warning now restricts travel to all countries.
As for how airlines are reacting to the coronavirus outbreak, Delta announced Wednesday it would cut passenger capacity by 70 percent across its system-including an 80-percent reduction on international service-until the demand for the routes begins to rebound.
United Airlines revealed Tuesday it would reduce its number of flights scheduled for next month by a total of 60 percent, including a 42-percent drop across the U.S. and Canada and an 85-percent decrease in international flights.
The U.S. Travel Association announced Tuesday it projects an $809 billion hit on the U.S. economy and the loss of 4.6 million travel-related jobs in the country.
Last week, President Trump revealed that four major cruise lines suspended outbound trips for 30 days in another effort to slow the rapid growth of the coronavirus. Several other companies have followed suit and canceled sailings for the foreseeable future.
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