Washington, DC (WNews) – The US CDC issued a new advisory on Monday warning Americans to avoid travel to Canada and 79 other countries as COVID19 cases increases.
The CDC elevated its travel recommendation to “Level Four: Very High” for Canada, telling Americans they should avoid traveling there.
The CDC currently lists about 80 destinations worldwide at Level Four. It says that if people must travel, they should make sure they are fully vaccinated.
The United Kingdom, Italy, and France are among the other Level Four countries, along with many other countries in Europe and Africa.
The United States in November lifted restrictions at its land borders with Canada and Mexico for fully vaccinated foreign nationals, ending historic curbs on non-essential travelers in place since March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early December, the Canadian Government issued an advisory warning to Canadians to avoid non-essential travel outside Canada as Omicron cases increases. The Government also reinstated the PCR test in December for any time abroad after dropping the test requirement for trips under 72 hours in November.
Canada advised residents in March 2020 not to travel abroad for non-essential reasons like tourism. It withdrew the notice in October — before the first Omicron variant cases were reported — citing the success of vaccination campaigns, but has since reinstated its advice against all non-essential travel.
Canada remains one of the top foreign destinations for Americans. The Canadian government did not immediately comment Monday on the new advisory.
The CDC on Monday also lowered travel recommendations from Level Four to “Level 3: High” for Armenia, Belarus, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe. Level 3 advises people to avoid nonessential travel to the countries listed. The CDC also rates Singapore as “Level 3,” after it previously was listed as unknown.
The CDC says Americans should also be fully vaccinated before traveling to Level 3 destinations.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a fresh high of 132,646, on Monday, surpassing the record of 132,051 set in January 2021.
