Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in India, the United States’ public health agency has asked its citizens to avoid travelling to the country, even if they are completely vaccinated. “Even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk of getting and spreading variants and should avoid all travel to India. If you need to travel to India, get fully vaccinated before travel,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday.

Also read: Third Phase of COVID-19 vaccination to begin from May 1 : All you need to know

The US State Department on Monday said that it will expand the ‘Do Not Travel’ guidance to around 80% of countries worldwide, citing “unprecedented risk to travellers” from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most Americans were already restricted from travelling to much of Europe because of COVID-19 restrictions. The US administration has banned nearly all foreigners, who recently travelled to most of Europe, China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa.

The United Kingdom on Monday imposed fresh travel restrictions on India, adding it to a travel ‘red list’ over the recent COVID-19 surge in the country.

The announcement came hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelled his scheduled trip to New Delhi on April 25 over the rise in coronavirus cases in the country.

India is currently gripped with a massive wave of coronavirus cases, reporting over 200,000 cases daily for the past few days. The country on Monday reported over 270,000 cases in its biggest single-day spike.