US CDC Says Listing Hong Kong Travel Risk Ranking Was Done in Error But S’pore Still in the List

By
Shawn Ambrose
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On Monday (27 Sep), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised its travel risk level for Singapore by one level.

This was understandable, as COVID-19 cases in Singapore have swelled in recent weeks, with yesterday’s case count exceeding 2,000.

What was weird, however, was that the US national public health agency also raised the travel risk level for Hong Kong, even though the country has reported fewer than 10 new cases a day since last month.

Surely, it had to be a mistake, right?

Yup.

US CDC Says Listing Hong Kong Travel Risk Ranking Was Done in Error But S’pore Still in the List

The CDC said it was not supposed to raise its travel alert for Hong Kong, and that the increase was done unintentionally.

In its travel advisory, the CDC categorises countries into four levels, based on how severe their COVID-19 outbreak is.

Level 1 means there’s a “low level of COVID-19” in the country, while Level 4 means there’s a “very high” amount of cases.

Earlier this week, the CDC raised Hong Kong from Level 1 to Level 2, meaning it was deemed to have a “moderate level” of COVID-19.

Consequently, residents in the US were advised to avoid travel to Hong Kong if they were unvaccinated.

This was a little puzzling, considering:

  • Hong Kong has reported fewer than 10 new cases a day since last month
  • It has had no locally transmitted infections since mid-August
  • It hasn’t had an outbreak of the Delta variant yet

On the other hand, the US recorded over 117,000 new infections on Monday, with more than 2,000 cases succumbing to the disease.

The CDC has since rectified its error, and returned Hong Kong’s status to a Level 1 country, which means visitors are at low risk of contracting COVID-19.

Image: CDC

According to the CDC’s website, the threshold for Level 2 is 50-99 new cases over the past 28 days for every 100,000 local residents.

And for Level 3, that number is 100-500, which explains why Singapore was recently bumped up to Level 3.

Singapore Deemed to Have “High Level” of COVID-19

As a Level 3 country, Singapore is believed to have a “high level of COVID-19”.

Because of this, residents in the US are urged to be fully vaccinated before travelling to Singapore.

It added that those who are non-vaccinated should avoid non-essential travel to Singapore.

It also reminded those intending to travel to Singapore to follow the prevailing recommendations or requirements, including wearing a mask and staying 6 feet apart from others.

US Planning to Open Borders to Fully Vaccinated Travellers

Last week, the US authorities announced it would soon open its borders to travellers vaccinated against the coronavirus from November.

However, the new rules exclude people inoculated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, meaning even those who have received two doses of the Russian vaccine will not be able to travel to the country.

Incoming travellers need to be fully vaccinated with vaccines approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization.

This includes the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinovac and Sinopharm.

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Featured Image: CDC

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]