The U.S. government has issued new travel warnings for 10 countries, including Belize and Israel, marking them as high-risk destinations.

On September 13, the U.S. government expanded its travel warnings due to rising COVID-19 cases, including countries like St. Kitts and Nevis, Belize, and Israel on the list.

Countries such as Slovenia, Serbia, Mauritius, Lithuania, Guatemala, Grenada, and Albania now hold Level 4 travel warnings from both the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of State, advising American travelers to reconsider trips due to severe COVID-19 risks and rising crime rates in many of these locations.

According to the CDC, travelers are urged to ensure they are fully vaccinated before visiting any Level 4 countries, which have reported at least 500 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the last 28 days. Belize, for example, has seen fluctuations in case numbers, including periods with no recorded cases since August 16, according to data from the World Health Organization.

Some countries, like Afghanistan, are under travel warnings largely due to ongoing political instability and turmoil.

The State Department advises against traveling to Afghanistan due to ongoing civil unrest, armed conflict, crime, terrorism, kidnapping, and the COVID-19 pandemic. They deem travel throughout Afghanistan to be highly unsafe, with a significant risk of kidnapping or violence towards U.S. citizens.

Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul ceased operations on August 31, yet it continues to support U.S. citizens and their families in Afghanistan from Doha, Qatar.

Despite having one of the world’s highest vaccination rates at 63% (over 5 million residents) as of September 13, Israel has received top travel warnings from both agencies. The country experienced record COVID-19 case numbers throughout the summer, peaking at nearly 70,000 cases for the week ending August 30, according to data from the WHO.

Various destinations have been issued travel warnings related to the impact of COVID-19, especially many island nations severely affected by a downturn in tourism due to the pandemic, such as those in the Caribbean.

Among the 105 current "Do Not Travel" advisories issued by the State Department, 13 are for Caribbean countries. This week, new advisories were added for Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis. Level 4 warnings are also in effect for Jamaica, St. Lucia, the Bahamas, Sint Maarten, Haiti, Dominica, Aruba, Cuba, Curacao, and the French West Indies (including Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin, and St. Barts) as well as the British Virgin Islands. Notably, three of these countries (Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Haiti) have additional safety concerns flagged by the State Department.

Since the onset of the pandemic, St. Kitts and Nevis has reported fewer than 1,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases and six fatalities, as per WHO data. Similarly, Dominica has seen just over 2,200 cases and six deaths, while the British Virgin Islands has recorded 2,600 cases and 37 deaths.