WASHINGTON — Both the U.S. State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued their highest warnings against travel to the United Kingdom on Monday amid surging COVID-19 cases in that nation fueled by the delta variant.
The US State Department raised its travel advisory for the United Kingdom to Level 4: Do Not Travel, aligning with an update made by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://t.co/cXkBA9UYWF
— CNN (@CNN) July 20, 2021
Although the “Level 4” warnings are not binding, they conflict directly with efforts by the travel industry - especially airline executives - to boost demand for international bookings by having COVID-19 travel restrictions eased, CNBC reported.
According to Reuters, the U.S. government lowered the U.K. to a “Level 3” advisory rating in May, but the virus’s delta variant is fueling more than 50,000 new daily COVID-19 cases there, prompting officials to urge Britons to consider self-isolating for 10 days.
The CDC stated that if individuals must travel to the U.K., they should only do so if fully vaccinated against the virus, but the State Department did not mince words, stating, “Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to COVID-19.”
>> Related: Coronavirus: Canada to open border to fully vaccinated Americans on Aug. 9
A CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University determined that nearly 317,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the U.K. during the past seven days, or roughly 43% more than were reported during the previous seven-day period.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases in the United States increased about 66% during the past week to a seven-day average of about 32,300 new daily cases, according to the Johns Hopkins tally.
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