US eases travel rules for 61 countries - but not UK

The US has eased travel restrictions for many countries as the roll-out of coronavirus vaccines continues.

Its public health agency updated its criteria on Monday, which saw 61 countries lowered from a Level 4 "avoid all travel" rating.

Countries such as France, Spain and Italy are now Level 3, which means fully-vaccinated passengers may go to these areas.

Travellers from the US can visit the UK but must self-isolate.

Because the US is on the UK's "amber list" visitors from the country have to self-isolate for 10 days on arrival.

But most passengers from the UK are still banned from travelling to the US.

Although the UK is listed as a Level 3 by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under a presidential decree introduced last March, non-US citizens who have been in the UK in the last 14 days cannot enter the country unless a specific exemption applies.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it had updated its criteria to "better differentiate countries with severe outbreak situations from countries with sustained, but controlled, Covid-19 spread."

The CDC said the new criteria for a Level 4 "avoid all travel" recommendation has changed from 100 cases per 100,000 to 500 cases per 100,000.

Other countries that saw their ratings lowered include:

Ecuador

Philippines

South Africa

Canada

Mexico

Russia

Switzerland

Jordan

Denmark

Turkey

Ukraine

Honduras

Hungary

Japan also saw its travel rating lowered to allow vaccinated passengers to travel in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics in late July. On 24 May, the State Department had issued a warning against the country, citing a new wave of Covid-19 cases.

The CDC said it also expects more countries to get lower ratings in the coming weeks.