CDC adds Dominican Republic, Kuwait to COVID travel warning list

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added the Dominican Republic and Kuwait to its list of high-risk COVID-19 travel advisories on Monday. 

The Dominican Republic was previously considered to be a moderate-risk destination for COVID-19 while Kuwait had a low risk, according to a web archive of the CDC’s website. A CDC high-risk designation means potential travelers should not visit if their COVID-19 vaccines are not up to date. 

The CDC has a four-tier system to evaluate the level of risk of contracting COVID-19 in each country. The “low” and “moderate” designations state that travelers should be up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines before traveling, while the “special circumstances/do not travel” designation states that people should not travel there unless it is unavoidable. 

No country currently has the “do not travel” designation. The CDC also has a list of more than 50 countries whose COVID-19 levels are unknown, so travelers should not visit unless they are up to date with the vaccines. 

The CDC updated its travel policy earlier this month to no longer require those flying into the United States to present a negative COVID-19 test before boarding their flight. 

Johns Hopkins University data shows the 7-day rolling averages of cases in Kuwait and the Dominican Republic have ranged between a few hundred to more than a thousand during June.