Airline passengers check the departure and arrival board January 28, 2022 at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised COVID-19 travel advisories to their highest levels for a dozen countries on Monday due to spikes in COVID-19 cases at those destinations.
Why it matters: The highly contagious Omicron variant continues to drive surges in COVID-19 cases around the world.
State of play: Level 4 travel advisories were issued for Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay, as well as Anguilla and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
- The high level advisories were also issued for Kosovo, Moldova, Singapore, the Philippines, Brazil, and French Guiana.
The big picture: The Level 4 alert, the CDC's highest classification for COVID risk, comes with the recommendation to avoid travel and, when that's not possible, to be fully vaccinated against the virus.
- The CDC is also warning due to the "very high" levels of COVID-19 cases in these countries that even fully vaccinated travelers "still be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19."