Advertisement

Warning for travellers: Avoid Canada due to 'very high' risk of COVID-19, CDC urges

A passenger wears a face mask to help prevent the spread of the new coronavirus as he waits for a Delta Airlines flight at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

COVID-19 cases continue to rise domestically and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning people in the U.S. about international travel to Canada.

The CDC now categorizes Canada in the "Level 4: Very High" category, the most severe level of COVID-19 risk, urging travellers to avoid all travel to the country.

"Because of the current situation in Canada even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to Canada," the notice from the CDC reads.

The CDC goes on to recommend that anyone who has to travel to Canada get fully vaccinated before doing so, in addition to wearing a mask, staying six feet away others, avoiding crowds, and washing their hands.

Canada has reported more than 1,036,000 COVID-19 cases to date, with an over age of over 6,800 cases reported daily across the country.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, highlighted at a press conference on Friday that over the past week, the number of new variant cases has more than doubled, with about 25,000 cases of variants of concern reported in Canada.

Data from the federal government states that 11.91 per cent of Canadians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1.76 per cent of the population has received two doses. More than 7,361,900 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Canada.