Nearly 135 countries are now a "very high" travel risk for COVID-19, says CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) list of destinations considered to be a “very high” travel risk for COVID-19 keeps on growing.

This week, more places received a “Level 4” rating, the CDC's highest, bringing the count to nearly 135 countries.

It’s an indicator of how quickly the COVID-19 Omicron variant has spread around the globe. Just last month, in January, there were close to 80 destinations flagged with a “Level 4” warning.

As CNN Travel pointed out yesterday, Level 4 now includes more destinations than all the other CDC categories combined.

This week, Japan and Cuba were added to the list, as well as Armenia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel, Libya and Oman.

Last month, Canada was re-added as a Level 4, which instructs Americans to “avoid travel to these destinations” and, if you must go, “make sure you are fully vaccinated.”

READ MORE: CDC gives Canada a "Level Four: Very High” COVID-19 travel warning

The last time Canada had a Level 4 rating from the CDC was in June of 2021 – that month, on June 7, the CDC lowered its travel recommendations for 61 countries, Canada included, to a Level 3.

The CDC identifies destinations that are a “very high” for COVID-19 using a dark red-coloured shade on this map of travel risk levels.

The CDC does not include the United States in its list of advisories. However, the U.S. is colour-coded as a Level 4 country on the agency’s map of the world.

Last week, Mexico and Brazil were among a dozen places added to the CDC’s Level 4 list.

Australia, France, Peru, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom are also classified by the CDC as very high risk.

Countries that currently sit at a “Level 1: Low Risk” classification include Benin, China, Falkland Islands, Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, Taiwan and Timor-Leste (East Timor).

The CDC says it uses COVID-19 data reported by the World Health Organization and "other official sources" to make determinations about travel health notices (THN) levels.

If a destination does not provide data, their THN level is designated as “unknown” and travellers are advised to follow Level 4 recommendations.

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