WASHINGTON: The United States has advised its citizens to say goodbye to foreign travel for now to 80 per cent of countries worldwide, including to India, amid a global surge in Covid-19 cases that has brought intense scrutiny on New Delhi.
While the State Department bumped up 80 percent of the world’s countries to a Level 4 warning, putting a dampener on global travel and tourism, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has advised its citizens to avoid traveling to India, even if they are fully vaccinated, as there is a ‘very high level’ of Covid-19 in the country, specifically noting variants of the coronavirus.
“Travelers should avoid all travel to India. Because of the current situation in India even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants and should avoid all travel to India,” the CDC said in a statement.
Earlier, the State Department said its Level 4 advisory to US citizens to avoid travel to 80 per cent of the world 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 assessments.
A Level 4 advisory, usually based on political unrest and civil war considerations, is generally reserved for war-torn countries or those that would be considered hostile to US citizens such as Afghanistan and North Korea. Hitherto only 16 per cent of the world’s countries came under this level. Bumping it up to four-fifths of the world will crush global travel and tourism considering Americans are among the most footloose.
The new warnings came just as travel and tourism was starting to tick up after a global vaccination drive that put many travelers at ease. But the CDC said on Tuesday that while fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread covid-19, “even fully vaccinated travelers are at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading new Covid-19 variants.”
India meanwhile is coming under scrutiny for an explosive increase in Covid-19 infections, accounting for one in three cases worldwide. Graphic stories of overflowing hospitals and crematoriums in a health system that is collapsing featured prominently in the US media on Tuesday.
Read More | Source: Times of India