By David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON, Aug 6 – The U.S. State Department on Thursday lifted a global “Do Not Travel” advisory from March recommending U.S. citizens avoid all international travel because of the coronavirus pandemic, and instead issued individual high-level warnings for about 30 countries.
“With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and potentially deteriorating in others, the department is returning to our previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice,” it said in a statement.
U.S. airline stocks rose on the announcement.
The State Department issued updated country-travel specific alerts, including “Level Four: Do Not Travel” advisories for about 30 countries, including India, Russia, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, Iran, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Honduras and Libya.
The State Department also issued numerous new “Level 3: reconsider travel” advisories, including for members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Armenia, the Philippines, Laos and Australia.
The United States has barred most non-U.S. citizens from many parts of the world from traveling to the United States, including from the EU and China. China has been on the State Department’s “Do Not Travel” advisory since June.
The State Department first issued the Global Level 4 “Do Not Travel” Health Advisory on March 19.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and David Shepardson Editing by Chris Reese and Sonya Hepinstall)
