CDC Warns About Traveling To More European Countries As COVID Surges In The Regions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added more destinations to its Level 4 “very high” risk category for travel on Monday amid a recent surge in COVID cases.

According to the CDC, if you must travel to these locations, “make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel” because there may be a “risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”

Two new European countries were deemed “very high” risk for travel by the CDC, moving from a Level 3 to Level 4 category – Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Both countries have seen their COVID cases spike in recent days. The Netherlands reported 11,832 new cases and 22 COVID-19 deaths in the past day, while Luxembourg had 452 new positive cases of the virus and two new COVID-19 deaths also in the past day, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The CDC deems destinations Level 4 when they have had 500 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the last 28 days.

Also, moving to the Level 4 “very high” category on Monday was the Faroe Islands and the Cayman Islands. Both destinations were previously listed in the Level 3 “high” risk category.

The CDC has about 80 countries listed as “very high” risk for travel with destinations such as Greece, the U.K., Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Maldives, Botswana, Russia, Singapore, Norway and the Bahamas listed in the category.

Also making a move on Monday were four countries that were added to the Level 3 “high” risk category. These destinations were decreased from Level 4 “very high” as they showed signs of dropping COVID cases.

The CDC deems Level 3 as 100 to 500 virus cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

Four locations were moved to Level 3, including Iran, Sint Maarten, Thailand and the Republic of the Congo.

The United Arab Emirates also dropped from Level 3 to Level 2 as it also improved this week to a “moderate” category, where the CDC designates 50 to 99 COVID cases per 100,000 residents in the last 28 days.

The CDC also moved five locations to Level 1, which is reserved for “low” risk travel destinations. These included the Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea Bissau, Malawi, Rwanda and Sudan.