The US Centers for Disease Control has issued a travel warning advising Americans not to visit Israel.
The CDC raised its risk assessment for the Jewish state to level four, its highest warning level, on Monday, calling on travelers to avoid visiting Israel and, if they must visit, getting fully vaccinated before travelling.
“Avoid travel to Israel,” the CDC wrote. “If you must travel to Israel, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel. Because of the current situation in Israel, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”
France was also added to the CDC’s highest travel warning level, level four, while Singapore was raised from level one to level two.
According to data released by Israel’s Health Ministry, as of Monday afternoon, there are 32,736 known active cases of the virus in Israel, with 3,417 new cases diagnosed on Sunday.
A total of 600 patients are hospitalized with COVID, including 373 patients listed in serious condition. Of those, 82 are in critical condition, with 61 on respirators.
Of the tests conducted on Sunday, 3.9% came back positive, up from 3.87% a day before.