The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday removed its COVID-19 warning against cruise travel, around two years after issuing risk advisory. The center had warned travelers against the dangers of contracting coronavirus on a cruise amid the pandemic.

“CDC is removing the COVID-19 Cruise Ship Travel Health Notice,” Dave Daigle, spokesperson for the health agency, told USA TODAY about the notice, which is issued to inform travelers about current health issues that could impact travelers’ health.

“Travelers will make their own risk assessment when choosing to travel on a cruise ship, much like they do in all other travel settings,” Daigle said.

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Daigle added that the CDC’s decision to remove the notice was based on the pandemic’s current state and a decrease in cases on cruise ships over “the past several weeks.”

The decision of lifting the travel warning was applauded by the Cruise Lines International Association.

“Today’s decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to altogether remove the Travel Health Notice for cruising recognizes the effective public health measures in place on cruise ships and begins to level the playing field, between cruise and similarly situated venues on land, for the first time since March 2020,” the cruise line association said in a statement shared by Laziza Lambert, the group’s director of strategic communications and public affairs.

The announcement comes just weeks after the CDC lowered its risk assessment level of cruise travel from “Level 3” to “Level 2” indicating a moderate COVID-19 risk. 

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The move would also help major US cruise operators such as Carnival Corp, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, all of who have suffered in terms of revenue due to the travel restrictions following the pandemic.

Thousands of COVID-19 cases were reported last year December on board cruise ships after the Omicron variant was discovered. Between December 15 and 29, cruise ships operating on US waters reported around 5,000 COVID-19 cases, a massive spike from the 162 cases reported in the first two weeks of December.