Seven countries were placed on the travel risk list due to their “Level 4: Very high level of COVID-19” earlier this month. Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added six additional destinations.
Also known as the ‘Do not travel list,’ the list is used to alert travelers to health and safety threats across the world, and ranks destinations based on reported coronavirus data.
As COVID-19 cases soar, the Bahamas and Morocco were included on the list.
According to the CDC, countries on the list should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Travelers are also encouraged to get fully vaccinated before traveling to these destinations.
The Bahamas and Morocco, very popular tourist destinations, saw their COVID-19 cases grow rapidly over the past few weeks due to the spread of the Delta variant.
In order to control the situation, Prime Minister of the Bahamas Hubert Minnis imposed a curfew on August 21, starting from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. in mainland Exuma, Abaco and the Abaco Cays, as well as North, Central and South Andros. The country registered 17,386 cases, while 338 people have died, according to the government’s latest official data.
As for Morocco, its curfew was extended by the North African country’s government on August 04, starting two hours earlier at 9 pm, as it tightens restrictions to counter a surge in coronavirus infections. Daily COVID-19 infections have oscillated between 4,000 and 9,000 over the past week as the total number of cases people rose to 814,000 cases, including 11,889 deaths.
The recent restrictions by CDC are most likely to hurt tourism business in both countries– which pinned hopes on summer to attract international tourists.
The six destinations moved to the Level 4 list on August 23:
- Bahamas
- Haiti
- Kosovo
- Lebanon
- Morocco
- Sint Maarten
The CDC uses COVID-19 data reported by the World Health Organization and other official sources to make determinations about [Travel Health Notice] levels.
Countries with a “very high” coronavirus risk have reported more than 500 new cases over the last 28 days per 100,000 population, according to travel health notice thresholds. Iceland was previously listed as a Level 1 country, with an incidence rate of fewer than 50 cases in 28 days.
Changes to the CDC’s travel health notices list will be updated weekly.
All travelers returning to the U.S. are also required to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding a flight back home.
