The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added four more Asian countries including Bhutan to its growing list of highest-risk destinations for travel. With this, the CDC places more than 140 nations to the Level four: COVID-19 Very High-Risk list. Bhutan recorded more than 8,000 new cases since January 17.
According to international media, the other three nations added to Level four on Tuesday are Brunei, Iran, and Malaysia. The CDC places a destination at level four when countries register more than 500 cases per 100,000 in the past 28 days. All four destinations were at Level three last week.
The CDC’s highest-level shows that these places have a lot of community transmission of COVID-19 and there is a higher chance of contracting the virus.
Early last month, the CDC listed 80 destinations to level four. The CDC has recommended travellers to avoid vacations to level four countries until fully vaccinated.
The other level four travel destinations include South Korea, Mexico, Canada, France, Peru, Singapore, and Spain. The United Kingdom has been there since July last year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is classifying the different levels based on the community transmission rates.
Sonam Tenzin