Travel

CDC adds former Covid success stories to its highest-risk category for travel

Forrest Brown and Marnie Hunter, CNN

(CNN) — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved three high-profile destinations to its highest-risk Level 4 category for travel on Monday.

Hong Kong and New Zealand have spent much of the pandemic in near isolation with relatively few infections and had been lauded as Covid success stories. However, the Omicron variant has caused massive spikes in cases in both places.

Hong Kong is late in playing out a now-familiar scene: Morgues near capacity, hospitals overwhelmed and supermarkets stripped bare by shoppers. Hong Kong has tightly restricted travel since the start of the pandemic and recently suspended many incoming international flights.

The spike comes in New Zealand just as it is beginning to shift toward plans to open up its borders to select international vacationers later this year. It has maintained some of the strictest isolation measures in the world during the pandemic.

Joining those two is Thailand, one of the crown jewels of world travel and the No. 1 Asian earner of tourism revenue in 2019. Thailand restarted its “Test & Go” program on February 1, which allows vaccinated international travelers from all countries to enter without lengthy quarantines.

The CDC places a destination at “Level 4: Covid-19 Very High” risk when more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents are registered in the past 28 days.

To recap, the destinations added to Level 4 on March 7 are:

• Hong Kong
• New Zealand
• Thailand

All three destinations were previously listed at Level 3, considered “high” risk.
Global case numbers have been declining since peaking in late January, but experts caution that the pandemic is not over.

CDC: Avoid Level 4 destinations

London is an international tourism favorite and the largest city in the United Kingdom, which has been at Level 4 since last summer.

London is an international tourism favorite and the largest city in the United Kingdom, which has been at Level 4 since last summer.
Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

 

There are about 135 destinations currently at Level 4. While the number of places in the “very high” risk category has dipped slightly since topping around 140 in February, there are still more places in the Level 4 category than in all the other categories combined.

The CDC advises avoiding travel to Level 4 countries. CDC thresholds for travel health notices are based primarily on the number of Covid-19 cases in a destination.

The CDC does not include the United States in its list of advisories, but it was color-coded at Level 4 on March 7 on the agency’s map of travel risk levels.

Last week, Vietnam was the only destination added to Level 4.

Other tourist favorites stalled on Level 4 include Canada, Egypt, France, Greece, Peru and Singapore. The United Kingdom has been there since July 2021.

You can view the CDC’s risk levels for any global destination on its travel recommendations page.

In its broader travel guidance, the CDC has recommended avoiding all international travel until you are fully vaccinated.

Changes at Level 3

Mexico, with Bahia Principe beach in Tulum pictured here, moved down from Level 4 to Level 3 on Monday.

Mexico, with Bahia Principe beach in Tulum pictured here, moved down from Level 4 to Level 3 on Monday.
Rodrigo Arangua/AFP via Getty Images
Tourists looking for some news that’s trending in a good direction will find it on this level.
The Level 3 “high” risk category — which applies to destinations that have had between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days — saw six additions from various spots around the globe on Monday. They were:
• Anguilla
• Cape Verde
• Fiji
• Mexico
• Philippines
• United Arab Emirates
All six had previously been at Level 4. Mexico has stayed open to tourists throughout the pandemic. It doesn’t have any vaccination or testing requirements to enter.

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