Four more die of coronavirus but US ranks Zimbabwe one of the safest countries to travel to

Four more people died of coronavirus today bringing the death toll for this month to 32.

There were 64 new cases raising the number of cases this month to 535.

The United States’s Centres for Disease Control (CDC), however, now ranks Zimbabwe among safe countries with the lowest COVID-19 risk for travellers.

Zimbabwe has so far recoded 1 626 deaths, 39 496 cases and 36 940 recoveries.

It has moved to Level 1, “Low Risk”, up from Level 4, which is “Very High” risk.

Earlier this year, the US had warned Americans not to travel to much of the world, designating multiple of counties, Zimbabwe included, in the “Very High Risk” category. But as vaccine rollout speeds up around the world, the US has eased some of its travel measures on dozens of countries.

The CDC has four levels of travel caution:

• Level 4 is for “Very High Risk” countries where citizens are urged not to travel;
• Level 3 is “High Risk”, countries to which unvaccinated travellers are told to avoid nonessential travel;
• Level 2 is “Moderate”, where unvaccinated travellers who are at risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should avoid nonessential travel;
• Under Level 1, the US only urges travellers to “make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel to these destinations”.

The other SADC countries in the Low category are Malawi and Mozambique. Zambia is in Level 2 (moderate) while South Africa is classified under Level 3 (high).

Explaining how it came up with the latest updated list, the CDC said: “Primary and secondary criteria used to determine Travel Health Notice levels were updated to better differentiate countries with severe outbreak situations from countries with sustained, but controlled, COVID-19 spread.”

In its changes, the CDC moved 58 countries out of Level 4, the “Do Not Travel” list, and designating them under Level 3, the “Reconsider Travel” destinations.

Zimbabwe was one of 34 countries moved to the “Low” COVID-19 level 1.

Zimbabwe currently has 930 active cases with 420 of them in Harare, 130 in Matebeleland South and 94 in Bulawayo.

It vaccinated more than 5 000 people today with 532 getting the first dose and 4 991 the second. So far 690 452 have received the first dose and 399 054, the required two doses.- Own/NewZWire

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