COVID: US puts Bangladesh in ‘high’ risk category for travel

The CDC asks Americans to make sure they are vaccinated and up to date with their COVID vaccines before travelling to Bangladesh

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added Bangladesh and five other destinations to its "high" COVID-19 risk category for travel.

The other countries that received a Level 3, "high" risk designation, on Monday are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Fiji, El Salvador and Honduras.

“Make sure you are vaccinated and up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before travelling to Bangladesh. If you are not up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, avoid travel to Bangladesh,” CDC said in its travel health advisory for Bangladesh.

Level 3 became the top rung in terms of risk level in April after the CDC overhauled its ratings system for assessing COVID-19 risk for travellers, according to CNN.

The designation applies to places that have had more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days. Level 2 and Level 1 are considered "moderate" and "low" risk, respectively.

There were more than 120 destinations at Level 3 on July 25. Level 3 locations account for about half the roughly 235 places monitored by the CDC, CNN reported.

Level 4, previously the highest risk category, is now reserved only for special circumstances, such as extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern or health care infrastructure collapse. Under the new system, no destinations have been placed at Level 4 so far.