The US government has lifted its global travel warning in
favour of issuing health advisories for individual countries, but it is still
recommending citizens avoid non-essential travel to Europe.
The Department of State, in coordination with the US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said improving conditions in some
countries and deteriorating situations in others brought the need to return to
its previous system of country-specific advisories. This places individual
nations and territories on a level from one to four, with one being low risk and
four being a warning to avoid travel.
Most European countries remain on Level 3, which advises citizens
to “reconsider travel” and recommends avoiding non-essential trips. However, some
of the advisories do point out that “conditions continue to improve”.
In a statement, the State Department said the move will “give
travellers detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions”
and “provide US citizens more detailed information about the current status in
each country”.
It added: “We continue to recommend US citizens exercise
caution when travelling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.”
People travelling from the US are still largely banned from
entering the European Union over the country's rising coronavirus cases, while the UK has kept the country on its quarantine
list and most non-US citizens and residents are being turned away at the US
border unless they are exempt from entry restrictions. However, the US
government has been in discussions with EU leaders on ways to lift the ban and
allow the resumption of transatlantic travel.