CDC updates ‘very high’ COVID risk travel list

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its travel recommendation list as the Omicron strain of COVID-19 continues to spread across the world

The CDC designated half a dozen new places to “very high” risk for travel, including South Korea and French Polynesia.

The six new additions to the “very high” risk Level 4 category include:

• South Korea
• Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea
• Belarus, located in a presently very tense spot bordering Russia and Ukraine
• Comoros, an archipelago off Africa’s east coast
• French Polynesia in the South Pacific
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French archipelago south of Canada’s Newfoundland

Level 4, the CDC’s highest risk level, has now grown to almost 140 places

In early January, there were around 80 destinations listed as a level 4.

Level 4 now has more destinations than all the other CDC categories combined and accounts for more than half of all the destinations listed by the CDC.

The CDC advises travellers to avoid visiting Level 4 listed countries due to the risk of catching COVID.

The CDC places a destination at Level 4 when more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents are registered in the past 28 days.