Americans Warned Against Traveling To 130 Destinations As COVID Cases Rise Around The World

Americans are being warned against traveling to even more destinations across the world as COVID cases creep upward.

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added seven more places to its Level 4 “very high” risk category, taking the total category to over 130 locations that travelers should be wary of traveling to due to their COVID situations.

The CDC has warned travelers, regardless of their vaccination status, against going to Level 4 destinations due to the “risk for getting and spreading COVID-19.”

A Level 4 location is determined as having more than 500 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents reported in the past 28 days.

The destinations added to the Level 4 “very high” risk category included Armenia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Japan, Libya and Oman.

All of the places listed saw their COVID case counts increase in the last week, with Armenia, Cuba, Japan, Libya and Oman moving from Level 3 “high” risk to Level 4, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo moved up two spots from Level 2 “moderate” risk to Level 4.

Israel, which has been listed as Level 4, received an update notice due to new information about Gaza and the West Bank’s COVID situation, CNN reported.

In early January, the CDC had about 80 places listed in the Level 4 category. Now, most of Europe, the Caribbean and cruise travel sit on the list. Mexico was also added to the Level 4 category last week.

Also new on Monday were three movers to the CDC’s Level 3 “high” risk category, including Bangladesh, Montserrat and South Africa.

South Africa saw its COVID cases improve in the last week, allowing it to drop from Level 4, while Bangladesh and Montserrat had increases in the number of virus cases moving up from Level 2.

A Level 3 destination has between 100 and 500 COVID cases reported per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

The CDC made one update to the Level 2 “moderate” risk category with the addition of Pakistan, which also saw its COVID case count worsen. It had previously been listed at Level 1 “low” risk.

A Level 2 destination is determined as having between 50 to 99 COVID cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

Only five places are listed in the Level 2 category currently.

The CDC made no new updates to the Level 1 “low” risk category or its “unknown” category, where reliable information is not available on a destination’s COVID situation.