COVID-19 Infections Rise, US Authorities Warn Citizens To Avoid Traveling To 22 High-Risk Countries

United States CDC Headquarters. (Wikimedia Commons/CDC/Daniel Mayer)

JAKARTA - The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday advised US citizens to avoid travel to 22 countries and territories due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, including to Australia, Israel, Egypt, Albania, Argentina and Uruguay.

The country's health protection agency raised its travel warning to "level four: very high", telling Americans they should avoid travel to those destinations, which also include Panama, Qatar, the Bahamas, Bahrain and Bolivia.

In total, there are now more than 100 countries on the CDC's level four list. Other countries on the level four list include Canada, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

"Do not travel overseas until you are fully vaccinated," the CDC says on its website.

"Vaccination is still the best way to protect yourself from severe illness, slow the spread of COViD-19, reduce the number of new variants. The CDC encourages you to get a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine if you qualify," the authority continued.

In addition, the CDC also raised an additional 20 countries to the "tier three: high" list, which includes Uganda, Kuwait, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Cuba.

Last December, the CDC changed its October order titled "Requirements for Evidence of a Negative COVID-19 Test or Recovery from COVID-19 for All Air Passengers Arriving in the United States."

The amendments now require air passengers two years of age or older on flights departing for the US from a foreign country to present a negative test result taken no more than one day prior to travel.

Alternatively, passengers must show documentation of having recovered from Covid within the last 90 days before boarding their flight.

"Flight passengers will also be asked to confirm in a form of attestation that the information they provide is correct," the CDC said.

The order applies to all travelers, including US citizens and lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, unless there are exceptions, the CDC explained.

As new infections increased by 20 percent worldwide over the past week, with about 19 million total cases reported over a seven-day period, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the Omicron variant will not be the last COVID-19 variant.

"Don't leave knowledge behind. Don't ignore the current strategy, which is to keep us and our loved ones safe," said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's COVID technical lead, Tuesday.

"This will not be the last variant of concern," he added, calling on the government to invest more in surveillance systems to track the virus as it mutates and spreads.