The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised citizens against traveling to France, Cyprus, Andorra and Portugal due to “very high” levels of coronavirus transmission.
The CDC “has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for France, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country. There are restrictions in place affecting US citizens’ entry into France,” reads the statement.
Jordan, Liechtenstein, and Tanzania were also given a “level 4” recommendation, joining a long list of countries that already included Germany and Denmark.
Level 4 destinations are those that report more than 500 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past four weeks or more than 500 cases total if their population is less than 100,000.
As of December 7, more than 80 countries had been assigned a Level 4 rating.
France has recorded 294,080 new COVID-19 infections in the last seven days including 25 Omicron cases, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
With nearly 90% of its population fully vaccinated, France is in a better position than it was in previous pandemic waves.
In order to avoid new lockdowns or curfews, France will close nightclubs and reintroduce social distancing measures for the next four weeks, the government announced Monday.
Portugal, for its part, is seeing an increase in infections in the Algarve, the country’s southernmost region, which is famous for its Atlantic beaches and golf resorts.
According to officials, the Algarve recorded 3,339 cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, including 88 patients in hospital, 20 of whom are in intensive care and 14 in ventilators.
The CDC also moved other 4 countries to Level 3. The nations that received good news were Cuba, Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis which had been at level 4. In the previous report, Colombia which was at level 2 has been downgraded to level 3.
In addition, all cruise ships, whether at sea or in rivers, were classified as Level 3 by the CDC.
Bahrain, Cape Verde, Fiji, Mali, So Tomé and Principe are now at “Level 2: Covid-19 Moderate.”
This time around, only Djibouti was moved to Level 1 and had previously been at Level 2.