New Delhi (NVI): After more than four months, the US State Department has lifted the highest level of its global health travel advisory and restored the previous country-specific system without changing the status of over 50 countries, including that of India and China.
The department issued the Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory on March 19, urging US citizens not to travel overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic.
India remains on the Level 4 of the travel advisory along with more than 50 countries, including China.
Among other countries which have been put on the Level 4 of travel advisory include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, Egypt, and Brazil.
This move came soon after the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its Covid-19 travel advisory information. The CDC lifted “do not travel” warnings for about 20 locations but advised staying away from the vast majority of the world.
“With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice to give travellers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions,” the State Department said in a statement.
“This will also provide US citizens more detailed information about the current status in each country,” it said. “We continue to recommend US citizens exercise caution when travelling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.”
However, Americans still face travel restrictions across the world because of the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus in the country.
The European Union has blocked entry to US tourists, and the UK requires travelers from the US to quarantine for 14 days.
The US is the worst affected country with over 4.8 million cases and more than 1,60,000 deaths, according to John Hopkins University data.
-CHK
