The US Department of State and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week added the following countries to the Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory category because of COVID-19 travel restrictions:

• France
• Iceland
• Israel, The West Bank and Gaza (Specifically West Bank)
• Thailand
• Laos
• French Polynesia
• Eswatini
• Aruba

France (population 67M) reported 24,236 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday 12 August 2021, while Iceland (population 357K) reported 226 new cases.

The additions of France and Iceland bring the total of Schengen Area countries under Level 4 advisories to 8:

• Cyprus
• France
• Greece
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Malta
• Portugal
• Spain

Austria, Croatia and Finland are currently at Level 3: Reconsider Travel.

After US President Joe Biden had hinted in July that US travel restrictions on Europe might be lifted soon, his Press Secretary announced at a media conference later that month that travel restrictions wouldn't be lifted "at this time" because of concerns over the extremely contagious Delta variant of COVID-19