State Dept. lifts advisory to avoid international travel

The U.S. State Department lifted its advisory on avoiding international travel, put in place five months ago.

The agency said Thursday in a news release that lifting the global health advisory, issued at the highest alert level – 4 – March 19, was done in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the Department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice ... in order to give travelers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions,” the release said.

The customary level 1 through 4 advisories for specific countries on Travel.State.gov provide more detailed information about specific conditions in individual countries.

“This will also provide U.S. citizens more detailed information about the current status in each country,” the department said.

“We continue to recommend U.S. citizens exercise caution when traveling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.”

As of Thursday, the State Department advised against travel to more than 50 countries designated by level 4, “do not travel” advisories. Those include countries with a high number of coronavirus cases, such as Brazil, India and Russia in addition to countries where there are other safety concerns. The department urged citizens to “reconsider travel” – with level 3 alerts – to many more.

“We are closely monitoring health and safety conditions across the globe, working in partnership with the CDC and other agencies,” the State Department said Thursday.