: Russia added to CDC’s ‘very high’ risk travel category — here’s a list of all Level 4 risk destinations

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added Russia to its list of “very high” risk travel destinations this week amid a recent spike of COVID-19 cases in the country.

The CDC categorizes a country’s travel risk on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being the most at risk. Each level is based on the number of new COVID cases per 100,000 people in the territory over the past 28 days.

To be a Level 4 location, there would need to be over 500 new COVID cases per 100,000 people over the past 28 days — the CDC says people should “avoid travel” to these destinations.

Here’s a list of all the Level 4 high risk destinations in order of when they were added, according to the CDC:

Russia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Slovakia, Ukraine, Singapore, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Armenia, Austria, Barbados, Croatia, Latvia, New Caledonia, Bulgaria, Norway, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, Guyana, Afghanistan, Albania, Belize, Grenada, Israel, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovenia, Brunei, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Guam, North Macedonia, Saint Lucia. Switzerland, Haiti, Kosovo, Sint Maarten, Bahamas, Dominica, Jersey, Montenegro, Turkey, Aruba, French Polynesia, Thailand, Curacao, Greece, Guadeloupe, Iran, Ireland, Isle of Man, Martinique, U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, British Virgin Islands, United Kingdom, Burundi, Bostwana, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Georgia, Iraq, Maldives, Mongolia, Réunion, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, and Suriname.

The U.S. is reporting 155 new COVID infections per 100,000 people over the past seven days, which represents 29% of its peak, according to the Reuters COVID tracker.

The CDC recommendation is for all international travelers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before making travel plans to any country.

The White House has detailed new travel rules for those coming to the U.S. Beginning Nov. 8, foreign non-immigrant air travelers will need to provide proof of vaccination prior to boarding a flight to the U.S., in addition to receiving a negative COVID test.

Here is a map of the CDC’s COVID-19 travel recommendations.

The updates to high risk travel locations by the CDC come as global cases of COVID-19 surpassed 247 million and parents await the CDC’s decision on vaccines for young children.