‘Do not travel to the Philippines,’ US tells its citizens

The United States warned its citizens not to travel to the Philippines due to the “high level” of COVID-19 cases.

The US State Department issued the “Level 4: Do Not Travel” Advisory on April 20, 2021.

The US State Department earlier said on April 19 that 80% of countries worldwide will be under Level 4, the highest travel warning, to reflect an increasing reliance on the epidemiological assessments of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC).

The CDC has placed the Philippines’ COVID-19 situation at Level 4: Very High, the highest among its classifications.

“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,” the CDC said.

As of April 20, the country has logged a total of 953,106 cases, 127,006 of which are active cases. The country has also recorded 16,141 casualties. A surge in the daily number of infections in March spurred the government to place Metro Manila and other nearby areas under renewed lockdown measures.

The US State Department has also warned US citizens to “exercise increased caution due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.” It said citizens should not travel to the Sulu Archipelago, including the southern Sulu sea, Marawi, and other areas of Mindanao.