CDC adds seven destinations to ‘very high’ Covid-19 travel risk list

By Marnie Hunter, CNN

France and Iceland are among seven destinations added on Monday to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s highest risk category for travel.

Travel should be avoided to locations carrying the “Level 4: Covid-19 very high” notice, according to CDC guidance. Anyone who must travel should be fully vaccinated first, the agency advises.

The seven destinations added to the Level 4 list on August 9 are:

• Aruba
• Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
• France
• French Polynesia
• Iceland
• Israel
• Thailand

In its wider travel guidance, the CDC recommends against all international travel until you are fully vaccinated.

“Fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to get and spread Covid-19. However, international travel poses additional risks, and even fully vaccinated travelers might be at increased risk for getting and possibly spreading some Covid-19 variants,” the agency said.

Destinations that fall into the “very high” risk category have had more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days, according to CDC parameters.

In France, Covid-19 health passes came into effect on Monday. Proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test is now required to enter establishments including bars, restaurants, cinemas, transport hubs and long-distance trains and buses.

The CDC maintains an evolving list of travel notices from Level 1 (“low”) to Level 4 (“very high”). Last week the agency added 16 destinations to its “very high” risk category, including Greece, Ireland and the US Virgin Islands.

Bermuda, Dominica, Hungary and Poland were among the “Level 1: Covid-19 low” destinations as of August 9.

You can view the CDC’s risk level of any destination on its travel recommendations page.

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CNN’s Joseph Ataman contributed to this report. (Photo by Sam Tarling/Getty Images)