US urges Americans 'do not travel' to these 8 countries amid spike in COVID-19 cases

Considering rapid spread of new COVID-19 variant Omicron across the world, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday upgraded eight countries on its list of " very high risk" that Americans should avoid travelling to due to the potential dangers of contracting the virus. Among the new additions, Spain and Finland have been listed under Level 4, which is a "very high" risk category as per CDC norms as these nations have recorded more than 500 cases per 1,00,000 residents in the last 28 days. 

"Avoid travelling to Spain," CDC directed in one of the identically-worded travel alerts for the eight new additions.

"If you must travel to Spain, make sure you are fully vaccinated because of the current situation in Spain. Even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants," the CDC travel notice said.

Highlighting that international travel at this hour poses a great risk, CDC asked travellers should follow recommendations or requirements in Spain, including wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart from others. The other seven countries are Chad, Lebanon, Bonaire, Gibraltar, Monaco, and San Marino. While Gibraltar, Monaco and San Marino shot up from the "unknown risk" category, Spain, Finland and Lebanon were moved from Level 3. The landlocked northern African country Chad was previously in "low risk" Level 1, CNN reported.

Omicron now "dominant" strain in US: CDC

The fresh set of alerts come after the US CDC declared Omicron variant "dominant," representing 73% sequencing cases, as of Monday. As per the CDC data, Omicron has displaced the previously overwhelming Delta variant, which is not just 26.6% of the sequenced cases for the week ending December 18. The data release comes a week after Delta reportedly made up 87% of total COVID infections, with Omicron making up 12.6%. Meanwhile, in some areas the percentage is higher than the national average, for instance, cases in Northwest, South, Southeast and Northeast have made up more than 90% of the cases, CDC estimated.

As of December 19, the US is currently reporting a seven-day average of 1,30,000 daily cases, says data compiled by John Hopkins University. The number has increased by 7% over the past two weeks. The national average is mostly due to per-capita new cases in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New York, CNBC analysis of Hopkins data revealed. Meanwhile, as per data reported by the US Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday, the last seven days of hospitalisation due to COVID-related infections remained around  69,000, CNN reported.

For a recap, worldwide COVID has reportedly infected 27.5 crores, including 53.5 lakh deaths. Meanwhile, at least 89 countries have reported Omicron cases after it was first found in South Africa's Gauteng province. It was dubbed as the "Variant of Concern" by the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier in November, observing its immune evasive characteristic.

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