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The State Department is urging Americans to “avoid nonessential travel” to Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed 21 lives in the country.
The department updated its travel advisory to level 3—the second-highest level—on Friday amid news that almost 900 people have been sickened by the virus—by far the highest figure outside Asia.
“Reconsider travel to Italy due to a recent outbreak of COVID-19,” the advisory states. “There is an ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 caused by a novel (new) coronavirus in Italy. Many cases of COVID-19 have been associated with travel to or from mainland China or close contact with a travel-related case, but sustained community spread has been reported in Italy.”
The department said “sustained community spread” means that people who have contracted the virus might not know how or where they became infected and that the spread is ongoing.
This comes on the same day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) raised its warning level for Italy to level 3, urging travelers to “avoid all nonessential travel” to the European country. The agency added that there is limited access to adequate medicare in areas that have been affected by the virus. China, South Korea, and Iran have also been issued a level 3 advisory.
Dozens of towns in Italy have effectively gone under lockdown, with schools, businesses, and restaurants closed and sporting events canceled following deaths due to the virus. Venice Carnival, that is usually attended by thousands of revelers, has also been canceled due to rapidly rising numbers of infections in the country.
The head of Italy’s hotel federation said that the travel advisory update is the “final blow” to the nation’s tourism industry.
“We had already registered a slowdown of Americans coming to Italy in recent days,” Federalberghi President Bernabo Bocca said in a statement. “Now the final blow has arrived.”
More than 5.6 million Americans visit Italy every year, the second-largest national group behind Germans, according to the most recent statistics. They represent 9 percent of foreign tourists in Italy and are among the biggest spenders at an average of 140 euros a day for a collective total of 5 billion euros a year, the hotel federation Federalberghi said.
The CDC has warned Americans to prepare for an outbreak of coronavirus in the United States. There were currently 62 confirmed cases of the virus in the country as of Friday. The confirmed cases include 44 passengers who were aboard the Diamond Princess, three people evacuated from China, and 15 other U.S. cases related to travel or close contact to travelers.
Washington state, Oregon, and California officials confirmed in total four new cases on Friday. Officials do not know where or how three of the patients became infected, making them “possible” instances of community spread, according to the CDC.
President Donald Trump said in an announcement on Feb. 26 that the risk of the virus to Americans continues to be very low because of early steps taken by the administration.
“We’re ready to adapt, and we’re ready to do whatever we have to as the disease spreads, if it spreads. As most of you know, the level that we’ve had in our country is very low and those people are getting better,” Trump said during the news conference at the White House.
Zachary Stieber, Ivan Pentchoukov, and The Associated Press contributed to the report.
This article is from the Internet:US Advises Americans to Reconsider Travel to Italy Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
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