Over the last couple of weeks, the rate of new COVID-19 cases in China has considerably slowed down, with more recoveries now being reported than new infections. However, the worry is now on the virus’ global spread as community outbreaks have been reported in more than 70 countries. Travelers around the world are asking what it means for their upcoming travel plans and worry about their health and safety.
What are the areas at risks?
Although the outbreak in China seems to be under control, the country is still categorized as a Do Not Travel destination by most countries. Most flights are still suspended until at least the end of March.
In the span of a couple of weeks, South Korea has gone from dealing with a few cases of COVID-19 to more than 5,600 and now finds itself in the throes of an outbreak that has become the largest outside China. As of March 4th, at least 28 people have died. The worst of it is in Daegu, a southeastern city where roughly 70 percent of confirmed cases are concentrated.
Italy is currently struggling to contain an outbreak and has reported more than 2,500 cases and 79 deaths. Northern Italy is the source of most of the cases in the country and travel warnings strictly indicate avoiding the Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto regions due to the high level of community transmission of the virus. Several airlines, including Delta, American Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines, EasyJet, Ryanair, British Airways and WizzAir, have suspended flights to Northern Italy due to a drop in demand and to contain the spread of this virus.
Iran is also a high-risk country with more than 2,900 cases and 92 deaths. Some countries in the Middle East region have reported cases with links to the Iranian city of Qom, where several holy sites are regularly visited by large crowds.
Many countries have released travel advisories for South Korea, Italy (especially the Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna regions) and Iran and are recommending their residents to avoid all non-necessary travel to these countries at this time. People who are traveling or have traveled to these regions within the last two weeks are also asked to self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return home.
What about other destinations?
The U.S. State Department recently issued a Level 2 Travel Advisory for Japan recommending travelers to apply increased caution if traveling to this country.
Besides China, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan, there is at this time no other high-level travel warnings and a low risk of being contaminated. Still, travelers should apply extreme caution and follow strict hygiene measures when traveling either domestically or internationally.