US updates South Africa’s COVID-19 risk level

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have updated COVID-19 risk levels for five countries, including South Africa.

The CDC has added five countries to its list of Level 3 ‘high risk’ countries for COVID-19 this week, and South Africa is one of them. Other countries include Lesotho, Antigua and Barbuda, and Taiwan.

Why the change from the US?

According to Tourism Update, new Omicron sub variants of COVID-19 have led to a rise in infections in SA, with cases reaching up to 8 000 per day last week. This rise has resulted in the CDC needing to add SA to its ‘high risk’ list of countries.

Prior to these increases, the CDC had placed South Africa on Level 2 and Lesotho on Level 1.

According to it’s website, the CDC states that it uses Travel Health Notices (THN) in order to alert travelers 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.

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

There are currently no countries listed under Level 4. Level 3, Level 2, and Level 1 are still mainly determined by 28-day incidence or case counts.

US also advises any and all travellers visiting SA, and other Level 3 countries, to ensure that they are up to date with their vaccinations and to avoid travel to these destinations if they are not.

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