The U.S State Department updated its travel guidance “to better reflect CDC’s science-based Travel Health Notices.”
Using a four-tier method of notices, the list labels roughly 80% of the countries worldwide as “Do Not Travel.”
Out of 197 countries on Earth, only two countries (New Zealand and Bhutan) fall under “Exercise Normal Precautions, and 18 others (Samoa, Belize, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Grenada, Palau, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, Liberia, Mauritania, Montserrat, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe) as “Exercise Increased Caution.”
The remaining countries fall under “Reconsider Travel,” or even more restrictive.
All eight of the most popular international destinations for U.S travelers – Canada, Mexico, the U.K, Italy, France, the Dominican Republic, Spain, and Germany – are all listed as “Do Not Travel.”
The change “will result in a significant increase in the number of countries at Level 4: Do Not Travel, to approximately 80% of countries worldwide,” the department said in a statement. “This does not imply a reassessment of the current health situation in a given country, but rather reflects an adjustment in the State Department’s Travel Advisory system to rely more on CDC’s existing epidemiological assessment.”
Since the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 in later 2019, there have been 142.2 million cases worldwide and over 3 million deaths.
Find the full updated list here.
