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June 13 (UPI) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday added three destinations to its "high" COVID-19 risk category. Mexico, New Caledonia and United Arab Emirates were added to the "Level 3: High" category, the highest risk category determined by recent COVID-19 cases.
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Destinations in Level 3 have reported more than 100 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.
Mexico and UAE were previously designated as "Level 2: Moderate" COVID-19 travel risks and New Caledonia was previously classified as unknown, meaning the CDC did not have enough data about the virus in the country to assign it a category.
About 115 destinations were designated as Level 3 risks on Monday.
Earlier in the pandemic, "Level 4: Very High" was the highest COVID-19 designation but in April the agency removed all nations from the category and renamed it to "Level 4: Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel," reserving it for "special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern or healthcare infrastructure collapse."
No destinations have been placed in Level 4 since the change.
Level 2, which indicates 50-100 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days, also saw three new additions Monday, bringing the total in the category to 16.
Honduras and Saba were downgraded from Level 3, while Cape Verde was upgraded from Level 1.
Cuba and Iraq on Monday were downgraded from Level 2 to "Level 1: Low," which includes destinations that have reported 49 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.
