CDC Lifts "Do Not Travel" advice for Ireland

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it has dropped its ‘Do Not Travel’ Covid-19 recommendations for about 90 international destinations, including Ireland.

Last week, the CDC said it was revising its travel recommendations and said it would reserve Level 4 travel health notices "for special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts."

The countries and other regions dropped to ‘Level 3: High,’ which still discourages travel by unvaccinated Americans, include Ireland, the UK, most of Europe, Israel, Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.

US citizens travelling to Ireland are now advised to “make sure you are up to date with your Covid-19 vaccines before traveling”.

The CDC currently lists no countries at ‘Level 4’, a category it has renamed ‘Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel’.

The US State Department said last week it was also planning to sharply cut back on ‘Do Not Travel’ advisories for international destinations.

Of about 215 countries and territories that it rates, the department currently lists nearly 120 at ‘Level Four: Do Not Travel’, including Ireland, much of Europe, Japan, Israel and Russia.

It said its update, also expected this week, "will leave approximately 10pc of all travel advisories at Level 4 " including all risk factors, not just Covid.

Both State Department and CDC travel advisories are issued as guidance, rather than a legal requirement to travellers.

However, they can have a dampening effect on leisure and business travel, and any easing of advisories is likely to be welcomed by a recovering Irish tourism industry.

Reuters