US raises travel warning level for Switzerland, Canada and Germany

The United States has increased travel warnings for Canada, Germany and Switzerland due to the COVID-19 infection rate in these countries.

Canada and Germany have been moved to Level 3 by the US State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking potential travelers to “reconsider travel” due to “high levels of COVID-19”.

The move comes three weeks after Canada reopened its borders to US visitors to ease measures restricting non-essential travel between the two neighbors since March 2020.

The CDC has raised its recommendation for Switzerland to level 4, the highest possible level. The agency told Americans not to travel to the European country because there is a “very high level” of COVID-19.

Earlier on Monday, all EU member states agreed to recommend that restrictions on travelers from the United States be reimposed, amid concerns about the country’s high infection and hospitalization rates.

In the past week, Germany has reported an average of about 9,167 new cases per day, while Canada has reported 3,039 cases per day and Switzerland has 2,572, according to the Financial Times coronavirus report. Adjusted for population, Switzerland recorded an average of 30 new cases per 100,000 residents per day in the past week, ahead of Germany (11) and Canada (8).

US reported an average of about 154,350 new infections per day over the past week, or 47 per 100,000 people per day.

CDC has also issued Level 4 guidelines for Estonia, North Macedonia, Azerbaijan and St. Lucia. Earlier this month, France, Israel, Thailand and Iceland were added to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Tier 4 list.