US issues 'Do Not Travel' to the Philippines advisory
MANILA, Philippines — Agencies of the US government are advising against travel to the Philippines, citing a "very high" level of COVID-19 and additional risks such as terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on its website issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for the Philippines, the highest of its four COVID-19 classifications.
The US State Department earlier announced that it will include 80% of countries worldwide in its "Do Not Travel" list "to better reflect CDC's science-based Travel Health Notices."
"This does not imply a reassessment of the current health situation in a given country, but rather reflects an adjustment in the State Department's Travel Advisory system to rely more on CDC's existing epidemiological assessment," the US State Department said in a media note.
This means that travelers should avoid all travel to the Philippines, according to the CDC.
In its website, the CDC says incidence rates and new case trajectories are their primary criteria for deciding the COVID-19 level of a destination.
The incidence rate is the number of cases over the past 28 days per 100,000 of the population, with 100 or higher classified as Level 4: Very High. This applies to areas with populations of over 200,000.
Meanwhile, case trajectories refer to whether cases have increased, decreased, or remained stable over the past 28 days.
"Because of the current situation in the Philippines even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to the Philippines," CDC said.
The US Department of State echoed the CDC's warning on its website.
It also called on travelers to exercise "increased caution due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping."
It cautioned against travel to the Sulu Archipelago and Marawi City in specific while urging that travelers reconsider going to other areas of Mindanao.
Find the latest travel and tourism news from around the world amid the coronavirus pandemic. Main image by AFP/Romeo Gacad
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