The CDC moves 3 more European destinations to the highest travel risk category

Door Forrest Brown | CNN

On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added three destinations in Europe — from the frigid northern climate to the sunny south — to the most dangerous travel category.

In its weekly update of Covid-19 travel advisories, the CDC did not recommend travel to the following countries and placed them in the “Level 4: Covid-19 very high” category:

• Malta
• Moldova
• Sweden

The CDC places a destination in Tier 4 when more than 500 cases per 100,000 population are registered in the past 28 days.

Sweden, the popular Scandinavian countryIt was previously level 3 and is considered “high risk”. It now joins other Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway at level 4. On Tuesday, Sweden started to claim A negative Covid-19 test result for foreigners regardless of vaccination status.

Malta, a favorite island in the Mediterranean, was also at level 3 last week.

Off the radar of most tourists, the Eastern European country of Moldova once fell into the ‘unknown’ category. The CDC puts destinations in that category when it doesn’t have enough reliable data to make an assessment.

Europe’s ongoing misery

In another worrying sign of the Covid-19 situation in Europe, the CDC did not downgrade any destination on that continent last week.

Other big travel names still on CDC’s Level 4 Level 4 include:

• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Italy
• Holland
• Portugal
• Spain
• United Kingdom

In fact, the UK has been on Tier 4 since July 19.

However, Europe is not the only continent with popular Tier 4 tourist destinations. Other places also considered a “very high” travel risk include:

• Belize
• Jordan
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Turkey

In total, nearly 90 destinations were classified as Tier 4 on Dec. 28. You can view the CDC’s risk levels for global destinations on their site. travel recommendations page.

Level 3 Extra’s

The Tier 3 category — which applies to destinations with between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days — saw two additions on Tuesday:

• Argentina
• Brunei

Argentina, a South American travel favorite that has been very cautious about letting foreign visitors in for most of the pandemic, was previously at Level 2.

The move was good news for the small Muslim sultanate of Brunei, which was on Level 4.

Level 2, Level 1 and Unknown

Destinations rated “Level 2: Moderate Covid-19” have seen 50 to 99 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population in the past 28 days. This level saw three additions on Tuesday:

• Cuba
• Gabon
• Guatemala

Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, was on level 3. Gabon, on the Atlantic coast of Africa along the equator, and Guatemala in Central America. He was also on level 3,

In the “Level 1: Covid-19 Low” destination category, fewer than 50 new cases per 100,000 population were registered in the past 28 days. And saw only one addition – the island country? Sao Tome in Principe Off the coast of Gabon.

Finally, there are destinations, as noted above, for which the CDC has “unknown” risks due to a lack of information. Usually these are small and remote places. On Tuesday, the CDC added three spots to this category:

• French Polynesia
• New Caledonia
• Suriname

The CDC is warning fully vaccinated travelers not to go to destinations where there are no reliable statistics on the current status of Covid-19.

in that Wider Travel GuidelinesThe CDC recommends avoiding international travel until you are fully vaccinated.

“Fully vaccinated travelers are less likely to contract and spread Covid-19. However, international travel carries additional risks, and even fully vaccinated travelers may be at greater risk of contracting and potentially spreading some variants of Covid-19.”

Another turbulent week