The list of counties which the U.S. State Department advises against travel to increased from 34 to 151. Which countries are on the “do not travel” list?’
May 11, 2021 UPDATE: The United Kingdom has dropped from Category 4 to Category 3 while Israel has dropped from Category 4 to Category 2.
State Department “Do Not Travel” List
The State Department divides nations into four categories:
- Level 1 – “exercise normal precautions” – 0 country
- Level 2 – “exercise increased caution” – 17 countries
- Level 3 – “reconsider travel” – 41 countries
- Level 4 – “do not travel” – 151 countries
Here’s the list of Level 4 countries, which Americans are urged to avoid right now:
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Andorra
- Antarctica
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Aruba
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bermuda
- Bolivia
- Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burma (Myanmar)
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Canada
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Chile
- Colombia
- Comoros
- Costa Rica
- Cote d’Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Curacao
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Denmark
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- French Guiana
- French West Indies
- Gabon
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Guatemala
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macau
- Madagascar
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Mexico
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Netherlands
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Panama
- Papua New Guinea
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Republic of the Congo
- Romania
- Russia
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and The Grenadines
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Island
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Suriname
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- The Bahamas
- Timor Leste
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Tuvalu
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Venezuela
- Yemen
The State Department notes the updated list “reflects an adjustment in the State Department’s Travel Advisory system to rely more on existing epidemiological assessments.”
But no further explanation is given as to how countries were placed in which category.
Bhutan has also lost its Category 1 status and is now in Category 2 status.
CONCLUSION
The U.S. is warning against travel to 151 countries, up from just 34 countries in late April. While this list is not a travel ban, the practical effect of this latest update will be to slow international travel. It also suggests that the United States will not be re-opened to citizens of the European Union in May, as has been rumored.
I would rather travel to most of the countries in the list than travel to NYC, California, Portland or Seattle.
The State Department…
Why do we give them such a large budget? They bungled Korea for 70 years. Meanwhile. DENNIS RODMAN was able to make a diplomatic breakthrough. Think about that, we are listening to an agency who has less success than DENNIS RODMAN. Maybe they should try and actually solve problems instead of merely managing them, which allows them to justify their 6 figure government salaries.
And we should listen to their advice on where to travel?
They are being realistic: opening for travel is way more distant than most people believe ( …or want to believe…); in Churchillian terms we might have seen “the end of the beginning “ but that’s about all. The huge ethical, political and logistical issue remain: how to ensure there is sufficient vaccination around the world to give a reasonable level of safety PRIOR to the need for booster shots …because ,in the absence of virtually universal vaccination, the outbreaks will come again and again.
Everyone’s worst nightmare is happening now in India: people dying in the streets outside hospitals, not a ventilator to be had ( and this in the world’s biggest producer of vaccines). Yet still some people will clamour for premature reopening of borders, mostly because they want to go on vacation ( although more often than not they couch this in economic terms: as if the world turns on the need for some road warrior/points junkie to have a ‘face to face’ meeting in Paris. Total BS). And usually preface this self-serving desire by quoting meaningless stats about recovery rates/ comparisons with seasonal flu. It’s beyond pukeworthy.
Stop blaming vacationers. Had their not been political rallies and riots, infection rate would be 70% lower, both in India and US.
Based on the invisible criteria the USA should also be Level 4 and domestic travel restricted. Here in the UK (level 4) I would say we are in a lot better shape than America. This is all meaningless political theatre.
I believe the term is virtue signaling. If one mask is good, two masks means you are just that much more serious about protecting others. When recommending against domestic travel just doesn’t feel good enough, toss in most foreign jurisdictions to maintain equity. If you are smart, you’ll understand this is what you must claim you are doing to maintain acceptable conversations at in-person gatherings with your vaccinated peers. If you don’t listen, well, you aren’t part of the group of people that are important anyway. If this was actually about public health, there would be a related increase in bans on flights from high risk areas – looking at you India. So much for following the science.
What a complete joke. This is just more “woke” political nonsense.
Thanks for ruining summer, Uncle Joe and Fauci
Liechtenstein is on the list… WHERE IT BELONGS!!!
This list is quite ridiculous it just doesn’t make sense…
Level 2: Palau, South Korea, Thailand (really? Palau has zero cases since the start of the pandemic and compare to South Korea that has 500-700+ daily cases and Thailand over 1000 cases per day)
Level 3: Iceland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia. All these countries has way less cases per day than South Korea or Thailand. Hong Kong about 0 to 3 local cases per day, same with the others mostly imported.
Level 4: Macau? (Is this a joke? Since the pandemic Macau only had a total of 49 cases and 0 deaths)
It’s so freaking hypocritical that Trump endured such criticism for limiting travel (was called racist, and so on), then the (deep) State Department has the gall to add ONE HUNDRED FIFTY countries to their list?
“Do as I say, not as I do”
FINALLY someone recognizes those evil ass Canadians for what they are. Right up where they belong with North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen. Build that wall Eh!
This is a ridiculous list and only encourages non compliance with this and other “guidelines”. Why create such a distrust in government by going fro 34 to 134 in 24 hours? How about a little nuance?
Forget Australia. The national budget, delivered today, says borders will not begin to reopen until mid 2022. In economic terms that’s not a net loss, as Australians used to spend AUD20 billion more on overseas travel p.a. than total receipts from incoming tourists. But it’s a TOTAL PITA !
Listen up, folks. Here’s the deal. We will encourage international travel once Kam and I are ready to declare victory over this virus. So just sit tight for another 18 months and we’ll have this licked by the mid-terms.
What the bureaucrats at State Department and CDC don’t understand, is that with each passing day this crap continues to go on, they lose credibility with the people, at least those who pay attention to this stuff and who can think for themselves. I’m in Ethiopia this week, having a great time. I had a great flight coming over too, on an almost fully packed 777. They’re leading from behind.
Thailand had reduced the mandatory quarantine period for arrivals to 7 or 10 days, depending on location….but has now increased it back to 14 days, for everyone/all locations, effective May 1st