In its weekly COVID-19 travel guidance update on 04APR, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has moved Canada down from Level 4 to Level 3 category of travel risk. In addition, and for the second week in a row, the CDC did not add any new destinations to its Level 4 category.
As reported by Open Jaw, the CDC marked a milestone last week on 28MAR when it did not add any destinations to its Level 4 list after months of the list growing to include destinations with rising levels of COVID-19.
The CDC places a destination at Level 4 "very high" risk when more than 500 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents are identified in the past 28 days, reports CNN. Americans are advised to avoid travel to Level 4 destinations. The Level 3 "high" risk category applies to destinations that have had between 100 and 500 cases of the virus per 100,000 residents in the same period.
Along with Canada, 13 other countries moved down to Level 3, including several Caribbean nations:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Belize
- Canada
- Grenada
- Iran
- Libya
- Oman
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Saint Lucia
- Suriname
While the CDC does not include the U.S. in its list of advisories, it is part of its color-coded global map of travel risk levels. On 04APR, the U.S. joined these destinations in moving down to Level 3 color coding on the map.
While these declining risk levels are a point of optimism for the travel industry, almost 100 destinations remain at Level 4, nearly 40 per cent of the 240 destinations covered by the CDC.
You can check the CDC’s risk designation for any country on its COVID-19 travel notices page.