CDC Issues 6 Coronavirus Outbreak Travel Alerts

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new webpage that aggregates the latest travel alerts related to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus outbreak.

The CDC has been closely monitoring the outbreak of a respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, which is causing the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in humans.

The CDC said on February 29, 2020, that it ‘has established geographic risk-stratification criteria for the purpose of issuing travel health notices for countries with COVID-19 disease transmission.’

A number of factors inform the geographic risk stratification including size, geographic distribution, and epidemiology of the outbreak.

Furthermore, the CDC hopes this information will guide public health management decisions for people with potential travel-related exposures to COVID-19.

As of March 2, 2020, the updated CDC Travel Alert information is as follows:

CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to the following destinations. The entry of foreign nationals from these destinations has been suspended.

• China (Level 3 Travel Health Notice)
• Iran (Level 3 Travel Health Notice)

CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to the following destinations:

• South Korea (Level 3 Travel Health Notice)
• Italy (Level 3 Travel Health Notice)

CDC recommends that older adults or those who have chronic medical conditions consider postponing travel to the following destinations:

• Japan (Level 2 Travel Health Notice)

Travelers should practice usual precautions at the following destination:

• Hong Kong (Level 1 Travel Health Notice)

According to the CDC, people can catch the COVID-19 disease from others who have the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales.

About 80 percent of infected people recover from the disease without needing special treatment.

And various studies from China indicate about 2 percent of people with the disease have died.

COVID-19 disease outbreak news is published by Coronavirus Today.

Travel alerts are published by Vax-Before-Travel.