Good news for South Africa: The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has downgraded SA’s travel risk rating from level 3 to level 2.
CDC says SA is now a ‘Moderate risk’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has officially lowered South Africa’s travel risk level from a level 3 to a level 2, effective last week.
The CDC currently keeps a list of countries sorted into four levels of COVID-19 severity.
- A Level 1 means Low risk
- The Level 2 means Moderate risk
- Level 3 equals to High risk
- And level 4 designates Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel
The highest level, level 4, is reserved for special circumstances, such as an outbreak of a new variant or where an extremely high number of cases are recorded. There are currently no countries at level 4.
According to it’s website, the CDC states that it uses Travel Health Notices (THN) in order to alert travellers and other audiences to health threats around the world. They determine the COVID-19 risk level for a country based on the incidence rate, which is the cumulative number of new cases over the past 28 days per 100 000 people.
Prior to the downgrade last week, the CDC had placed South Africa on level 3 in May, which is reserved for high-risk countries, which travellers are generally advised to avoid.
According to Business Tech, the CDC has no significant travel advisories at level 2, they do recommend that travellers with a weakened immune system or who are at increased risk for severe disease delay their travel plans to South Africa and other level 2 countries.
US was South Africa’s top source market for international travel in 2021
The lower travel risk level is great news for the South African tourism industry, as a recent report showed that the U.S was South Africa’s top source market for international travel in 2021, officially overtaking the UK.
The report claimed that South Africa was a top bucket-list destination among U.S travelers, loved for its world-class travel, a wide variety of experiences, like exclusive game reserves, and affordable-luxury accommodation options.
