CDC adds Israel to high-risk COVID-19 travel advisory list

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has added Israel to the highest tier of a list of countries it claims Americans should avoid due to the “very high level” of COVID-19 infections there, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

The CDC has included the West Bank and Gaza in its advisory on Israel, considering these regions as a single unified entity of “level 4” risk, TOI reports. Even fully vaccinated Americans are advised to stay away: “Because of the current situation in Israel, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the CDC said.

According to information released by Israel’s Health Ministry, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine used to inoculate Israelis seems to have been largely successful in preventing hospitalization and serious cases, but has been significantly less able to prevent the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, TOI said.

As of Monday, there were 34,103 active coronavirus cases, the highest number since March. There were also 373 seriously ill patients by Monday evening, TOI reports. The recorded numbers in Gaza and in parts of the West Bank run by the Palestinian Authority are much lower – but testing is significantly limited in these areas.

Out of Israel’s population of 9.3 million people, over 5.8 million have received at least one vaccine dose, and nearly 5.4 million have received two. Almost 550,000 have had a third booster shot, TOI said.

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