US lifts global health travel advisory; Urges citizens not to visit India, China
Washington: The US has lifted the highest level of its global health travel advisory for Americans due to the coronavirus pandemic and restored the previous country-specific system without changing the status of over 50 countries, including that of India and China.
The US state department issued the Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory -- the highest level of travel advisory -- on March 19, urging American citizens not to travel overseas due to the coronavirus pandemic.
India remains on the Level 4 of the travel advisory along with more than 50 countries, including China. This means that the US urges its citizens not to travel to India due to the increasing coronavirus cases.
The state department, in its latest travel advisory on India issued on Thursday, said: Do not travel to India due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution in India due to crime and terrorism.
The? Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 (avoid non-essential travel) Travel Health Notice for India due to COVID-19, it said.
Travellers to India may experience border closures, airport closures, travel prohibitions, stay at home orders, business closures and other emergency conditions within India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Carl Risch told reporters during a conference call that the State Department, in close coordination with the CDC, has lifted the Global Level 4 Health Advisory and has returned to the previous system of country-specific levels of travel advice, with levels from 1 to 4 depending on country-specific conditions.
The CDC has similarly removed its Level 3 Global COVID-19 Pandemic Notice. This important change reflects the reality that health and safety conditions are improving in some countries while potentially deteriorating in others, he said.
By returning to the country-specific travel advisory system, the US is able to give Americans detailed and actionable information to make informed travel decisions, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic poses significant risks for travellers and our destination-specific advisories take into account the latest data and public health and safety analysis on COVID-related risks, Risch said.
Among other countries which have been put on the Level 4 of travel advisory include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, Egypt, and Brazil.
Although the guidance from the state department has been lifted, American travellers continue to face travel restrictions in countries worldwide due to the rising cases of the deadly disease in the United States.
According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the contagion has infected over 19 million people and killed more than 713,000 across the world.
The US is the worst affected country with over 4.8 million cases and more than 1,60,000 deaths.
The European Union has blocked the entry of the US tourists, and the UK requires travellers from the US to quarantine for 14 days.
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3 US troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
Washington (AP): Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the US attacks on Iran, the military said Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that has sparked retaliation from the Islamic Republic.
US Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, announced the deaths in a post on X but did not say when and where they occurred. The statement said “several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions” and were going to return to duty.
Central Command described the situation “as fluid” and said it would withhold the identities of the service members who were killed for 24 hours after their families were notified.
The US military also denied Iranian claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was struck with ballistic missiles, saying on X that the “missiles launched didn't even come close.”
President Donald Trump had warned that American troops could be killed or injured in the operation.
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” the Republican president said in a video address released early Saturday. “That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future.”
Following the US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other leaders, Iran's counterattacks have struck US bases in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to launch its “most intense offensive operation” ever targeting Israeli and American military installations.
Before the strikes, Trump had built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades. The arrival of the Lincoln and three accompanying guided-missile destroyers at the end of January bolstered the number of warships in the region.
The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and four accompanying destroyers later were dispatched from the Caribbean Sea to head to the Middle East.
The Ford was part of the US raid in Venezuela that captured leader Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges. The operation in January claimed no American lives but left seven US troops with gunshot wounds and shrapnel-related injuries.
One of those injured received the Medal of Honor during Trump's State of the Union address last week. Trump said Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover piloted the lead CH-47 Chinook helicopter that descended on the “heavily protected military fortress” where Maduro was staying.
Trump has launched several military operations during his second term, including strikes on members of the Islamic State group in Syria in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two US troops and an American civilian interpreter in December.
The US military has also struck IS forces in Nigeria, after Trump accused the West African country's government of failing to rein in the targeting of Christians.
