(CNN) — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved three high-profile destinations to its highest-risk Level 4 category for travel on Monday.
Hong Kong and New Zealand have spent much of the pandemic in near isolation with relatively few infections and had been lauded as Covid success stories. However, the Omicron variant has caused massive spikes in cases in both places.
Hong Kong is late in playing out a now-familiar scene: Morgues near capacity, hospitals overwhelmed and supermarkets stripped bare by shoppers. Hong Kong has tightly restricted travel since the start of the pandemic and recently suspended many incoming international flights.
The spike comes in New Zealand just as it is beginning to shift toward plans to open up its borders to select international vacationers later this year. It has maintained some of the strictest isolation measures…
