US issues travel warning on Phl amid surge in COVID cases

The United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday, 10 August, warned American citizens from traveling to the Philippines due to the rising cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections in the country.

In an advisory, the US CDC classified the Philippines at Alert Level 3, which means unvaccinated passengers are advised to avoid non-essential travel there.

“Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling to these destinations,” the US CDC said in its bulletin.

The Philippines is among the 69 countries in the risk classification.

Other Alert Level 3 risk nations include Japan, Italy, Cambodia, India, Lebanon, Russia, Sweden, Vietnam, Turkey, Afghanistan, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Cape Verde, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Easter Island, Ecuador, El Salvador and Estonia.

Also in the list are Faroe Islands, Finland, The Gambia, Guatemala, Guam, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro and Morocco.

Norway, Peru, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Senegal, Sint Maarten, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Timor-Leste. Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda and Zambia are also in the same risk classification.

In its bulletin, the US CDC  told American residents to also avoid traveling to 75 more countries which it put in Alert Level 4 – the highest among the risk classifications.

These countries are Indonesia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Thailand.

A fresh surge in Covid-19 cases were recorded in the aforementioned countries due to the Delta variant of the virus.

On Monday, 9 August, the Department of Health (DOH) put the Philippines back to the “high risk” category over a week after the agency said the country is at “moderate risk” due to the Delta variant of Covid-19.

The Delta variant was detected in 13 regions in the country including the National Capital Region where infections were recorded in 16 cities and the municipality of Pateros.

As of 9 August, the country’s overall Covid-19 cases rose to 1,667,714 after the DOH recorded 8,900 new cases. Of which, 78, 480 are active cases.