The United States has put the UK on its highest alert level, warning citizens not to travel due to the rising number of Covid cases there.
19 July may have been ‘freedom day’ in the UK as the government signalled an end to virtually all restrictions, but the U.S. countered by raising the UK to Level 4 – the highest warning against travel.
“If you must travel to the United Kingdom, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an advisory.
The State Department put it more bluntly: “Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to COVID-19.”
The U.S. had lowered the UK to a Level 3 rating in May, but rising cases in the UK – up to 50,000 a day with hundreds of thousands of Britons told to self-isolate – has pushed the advisory back up to its highest level.
The U.S. has barred virtually all non-U.S. citizens from entering since March 2020, but the last two weeks has seen a softening of attitudes toward restrictions as the Biden administration said it was said it was forming expert working groups with Britain, Canada, Mexico and the European Union to determine how best to restart travel safely.
