CDC issues ‘Level 1’ warning for travel to Hong Kong

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a travel advisory for people traveling to Hong Kong due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The Level 1 warning advises travelers to Hong Kong to avoid contact with sick people and clean their hands often by washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

The agency did not tell people to cancel or postpone travel to Hong Kong, which just recorded its second death due to the coronavirus. Instead, the CDC said people who have traveled to Hong Kong in the past 14 days should seek medical attention if they are displaying symptoms of the virus.  

According to the CDC, many cases of the new coronavirus have been associated with travel to or from mainland China, or close contact with a travel-related case, but multiple instances of community spread have been reported in Hong Kong. 

Community spread means that people in Hong Kong have been infected with the virus, but how or where they became infected is not known.

Last month, the CDC issued its highest travel warning for mainland China, telling Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to the region because of the outbreak of coronavirus. Hong Kong was not part of that warning.