8 Destinations Deemed 'Very High' Risk For American Travelers Amid Omicron Outbreaks

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new warning for American travelers looking to go abroad: eight new destinations were added to its “very high” risk category as their COVID situations worsened amid the Omicron spread.

Moving into the highest-level warning category as of Monday was popular tourist destination Spain. The European country moved up a notch from Level 3 – “high” risk – as its COVID cases have drastically increased per resident.

Also moving to Level 4 on Monday were Bonaire, Chad, Finland, Gibraltar, Lebanon, Monaco and San Marino.

Gibraltar, Monaco and San Marino were previously in the CDC’s “unknown” risk category, where COVID information was unknown or unreliable, while Finland and Lebanon were previously Level 3 risks. Chad was previously a “low” risk nation.

The CDC deems “very high” risk destinations as locations that have more than 500 COVID cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

There are more than 90 destinations listed as Level 4, which the CDC warns “even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”

The CDC has also made two changes to its Level 3 “high” risk category, adding Peru and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the list.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines moved down from Level 4 as its COVID situation has improved, while Peru saw its COVID case count increase after being a Level 2 “moderate” risk since October.

Level 3 nations are designated by the CDC as having 100 to 500 virus cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

The CDC also added one location to the Level 2 “moderate” risk category with the Newfoundland, Canada, territory of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which had previously been a Level 1 “low” risk territory.

The CDC deems a destination as Level 2 when it has 50 to 99 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

Level 1 saw no new additions, but four destinations were added to the “unknown” risk category by the CDC, including the Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Moldova and Sudan.

The CDC still cautions against traveling to “unknown” risk category locations based on the unreliable information about their COVID situations, saying they still pose a risk even for fully vaccinated travelers.