US issues 'Do Not Travel' Covid-19 warning for Germany, Denmark

In a major effort to control the spread of the Covid-19 disease further, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the State Department on Monday advised against travel to Germany and Denmark because of a rising number of Covid-19 cases in those countries. Elevating its travel guide to "Level Four: Very High" for the two European countries, the CDC asked Americans to avoid travel there, while the State Department issued parallel "Do Not Travel" advisories for both countries. At present, the CDC list has nearly 75 destinations worldwide at Level Four, with many European countries on the list including Austria, Britain, Belgium, Greece, Norway, Switzerland, Romania, Ireland and the Czech Republic.

According to a report by news agency Reuters, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel told leaders of her conservative party that measures being taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus in Europe’s biggest economy were insufficient and that stronger action needed to be taken.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) said European countries must work harder to prevent the coronavirus from spreading further as deaths and new cases surge. Current transmission rates in 53 European countries are of "grave concern" and new cases are nearing record levels, exacerbated by the more transmissible Delta variant of the virus, the WHO’s Hans Kluge warned.

"We must change our tactics, from reacting to surges of Covid-19, to preventing them from happening in the first place," he said.

Soon after cases started soaring in Germany, the country has already decided to limit large parts of public life in areas where hospitals are filling with Covid-19 patients. The people who received their first two shots of Covid-19 vaccine at the start of the year, and children who are not eligible for inoculation yet are the ones among which the coronavirus is spreading rapidly now. Meanwhile, Austria has imposed a full Covid-19 lockdown after announcing some renewed restrictions last week. German acting Health Minister Jens Spahn warned on Friday that Germany may follow.