US eases travel restrictions for India to level 2 as COVID situation improves
While the CDC downgraded India to "Level 2: Moderate," the State Department downgraded it to "Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution."
FollowThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US State Department cautioned against travelling to Turkey on Monday due to increased COVID-19 infections in that country but reduced their recommendations for India. The CDC raised Turkey's COVID-19 rating to "Level 4: Very High," while the State Department issued a "Level 4: Do Not Travel" caution.
While the CDC downgraded India to "Level 2: Moderate," the State Department downgraded it to "Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution."Â In light of COVID-19, the United States President Joe Biden placed additional travel restrictions on India on April 30, banning most non-US nationals who had been in India during the previous 14 days from entering the United States.Â
In addition to India, the United States now prohibits most non-U.S. nationals from entering the country if they have spent the previous 14 days in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen countries in Europe with no internal border controls, or Ireland, China, South Africa, Iran, or Brazil. The CDC presently has a travel advisory rating for more than 70 nations.
The CDC and the US State Department reduced the COVID-19 travel alert for Canada to "Level 2" last week. Regardless of the shift, the US government shows no signs of relaxing any COVID-19 limitations.
On August 5, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients reaffirmed that "because to the Delta variant, the United States would retain the current travel restrictions at this time." For the first time in 16 months, Canada opened its doors to fully vaccinated American travellers on August 9. The US has not relaxed any restrictions that prevent non-essential non-US individuals from crossing its land borders with Mexico and Canada. The present limitations in the United States have been regularly renewed in 30-day increments, and they are anticipated to be extended before they expire on August 21.
