U.S. moves Ukraine to highest level of COVID-19 travel risk

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has included Ukraine in the list of countries with the highest risk of COVID-19 infection, according to CNN.

This week, Ukraine was moved up from Level 3, or "high" risk for COVID-19, to Level 4, the agency's highest risk category, the report said.

Destinations that fall into the "COVID-19 Very High" Level 4 category have had more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days, according to CDC criteria.

The CDC on its website urged U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Ukraine.

"If you must travel to Ukraine, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel. Because of the current situation in Ukraine, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants," the agency said.

Some 19,120 new coronavirus cases and 734 more deaths linked to COVID-19 were recorded in Ukraine on October 25. Since the start of the pandemic, Ukraine has reported 2,803,159 infections, 2,390,112 recoveries, and 64,936 deaths.