CDC says to ‘avoid travel’ to UK amid rising COVID-19 cases

The CDC on Monday warned Americans to avoid any non-essential travel to the United Kingdom due to rapidly rising coronavirus cases.

The agency issued a “level 4” warning, the highest level, and recommends that if travel can’t be avoided, people should make sure they are vaccinated.

“Because of the current situation in the United Kingdom, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the advisory notes.

Separately, the State Department also issued its own level 4 “do not travel” warning.

COVID-19 in the U.K.: The warnings come at the same time as the U.K. government lifted most of the country’s remaining coronavirus restrictions. Face coverings are no longer required, and physical distancing rules and capacity restrictions are all lifted.

New cases have skyrocketed in the country in the past month, driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Cases topped 50,000 per day last week for the first time since January, and the seven-day moving average is almost 45,000 cases.