U.S. CDC urges Americans to avoid travel to Niger, Poland over COVID-19

On Nov. 23, the CDC had lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory for South Africa to "Level 1: Low" from "Level 3: High" The new variant prompted the White House to announce effective Monday it would bar nearly all foreign nationals who have been in any of eight countries within the last 14 days from flying to the United States.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday advised Americans against travel to Niger, Papua New Guinea, Poland, and Trinidad and Tobago, citing COVID-19 concerns. The CDC now lists about 80 destinations at "Level 4: Very High" classification after the White House announced new travel restrictions in response to the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

On Saturday, the CDC added South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho and Eswatini, while the State Department issued parallel "Do Not Travel" advisories on Saturday. The Biden administration is considering tightening vaccine rules and a draft proposal is circulating among government agencies, officials said.

"CDC is evaluating how to make international travel as safe as possible, including pre-departure testing closer to the time of flight and considerations around additional post-arrival testing and self-quarantines," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday. On Nov. 23, the CDC had lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory for South Africa to "Level 1: Low" from "Level 3: High"

The new variant prompted the White House to announce effective Monday it would bar nearly all foreign nationals who have been in any of eight countries within the last 14 days from flying to the United States. The United States only lifted travel restrictions on South Africa and 32 other countries on Nov. 8.

On Tuesday, health company XpresSpa Group announced a joint effort with the CDC and Ginkgo Bioworks to expand its current COVID-19 variant surveillance program to detect the Omicron variant through its XpresCheck subsidiary. On Sunday, XpresCheck expanded its voluntary COVID-19 program to test passengers entering the United States from southern Africa, including passengers making connections.

The program includes PCR tests done on a pooled sample collected at the airport on arrival.

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