Should I Cancel My Trip Because of the Coronavirus COVID-19 Outbreak?

Should I Cancel My Trip Because of the Coronavirus COVID 19 Outbreak?

The cancellation of tour packages, hotels bookings and flight tickets are soaring as a result of massive impact of Coronavirus COVID-19.

Traveling can carry the health issue, it will be wise to find out the current health situation in the destination you are planning to travel.

You should monitor your medical situation before leaving for, while you are in and after returning from your travel destination. If you become sick while you are on a trip, contact a health professional to explain your symptoms. If you become sick upon your return, contact your local Public Health Authority for further advice and procedure.

People can contract coronaviruses after coming into contact with an infected person. Current evidence suggests person-to-person spread is efficient when there is close contact. Maintaining the distance from a suspected person with COVID infection is advisable to all the travelers.

Canceling and Postponing the Flights

Airlines throughout the world have already cut flights amid the outbreak, with many suspending or vastly reducing service to hard-hit countries such as China and Italy.Travelers with upcoming plans should make sure with their airlines and look for notices posted on airlines information platforms.

Selecting the proper travel advices in the time of this outbreak

There are an increasing number of sources that have been providing advice about Coronavirus COVID 19. It is essential to follow only the authentic and reliable source: 

WHO : Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak

WHO : Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak

If you are planning to travel abroad and bewildered on making the decision due to being unaware of the corona effect around the world, we would recommend you to follow the updates made in WHO website in their Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak page.

CDC: Coronavirus Disease Information for Travel

CDC: Coronavirus Disease Information for Travel

For the travelers abroad, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also been providing all the recent updates and advice. You can follow the Coronavirus Disease Information for Travel page if you are planning to travel in near future.

Should I cancel a cruise ship trip ?

Looking at the current situation of the Coronavirus COVID 19 outbreak. It is advisable to avoid to travel on cruise ships if possible.

How can I stay safe from getting infected?

You can follow these precautions to stay safe from the Coronavirus COVID 19 infection:

stay safe from the Coronavirus COVID 19 infection

Are travel insurance covering the outbreak loss?

As stated by  TravelInsurance.com, the outbreak of a virus is not covered under most standard trip cancellation insurance policies. Regaining all the costs associated with trips canceled due to coronavirus fears is far from assurance.

If you are planning to travel in any near future you should contact your provider to see if their plans offer any coverage.

Travel Ban, Entry restrictions and Quarantine

Many countries are applying the screening while entry. Most of the countries are updating the travel restriction policies every other day. It is advised to keep following  immigration website of the destination country to stay updated with such notices about Coronavirus COVID 19 regulations.

If you have recently been in a corona affected territory, you may need to be quarantined, or you may not be allowed to enter or travel through a third country.

The beginning of year 2020 was quite alarming. The outbreak of a new kind of virus novel coronavirus COVID 19 started from one province of China. In just a matter of two months, and outbreak became a global emergency. Finally in March 12, WHO declared it as a pandemic.

Global economy was troubled by this event and it is affecting all dimensions of the lives of the people from around the world. One of the major impacts of the outbreak could be seen in the area of traveling. The travel ban started with China then it was applied to South Korea, Hong Kong Japan Singapore and some of the Asia-Pacific countries. After the outbreak reached Iran and some other Middle East countries, the spreading of virus started becoming a major problem for The whole Asia. 

The matter became worse when the case increased overwhelmingly in Italy. The rapid growth of coronavirus cases in Italy and other nearby European countries left no boundaries for this virus. Then the virus cases started growing in the United States of America and now  it was already a global emergency. Until now more than hundreds of countries have confirmed cases, coronavirus COVID 19 has definitely became one of the major health crises in the last few decades.

In the hope of mitigating the effect and speed of spreading of virus, many countries have applied travel restrictions and bans. 

We asked about how people feel about the travel ban applied by some of the countries in the world. We received the opinions of the  people from around the world. They had mixed responses. 

We asked the respondents: As CoronaVirus COVID is a Global pandemic now, do you think that travel bans across the countries can make any difference?

travel bans across the countries can make any difference

Some of the respondents who spoke up in the favor of the travel ban and travel restriction after the coronavirus effect are as follows:

“Clearly, Travel ban makes a huge difference in the spread of coronavirus . I wonder why countries didn’t take this step earlier! What were they waiting for? When this virus was first seen among the Chinese, why didn’t the other countries adopt any safety measures? They took this action too late. If any epidemic disease originates in a country, every country should be alert .”

“The same thing I said, I am from Chile and this health minister has not yet made the determination to close everything, we are going in 34 cases, none has been serious but the stupid is waiting for it to go to stage 3 and moreover, autumn is coming and winter where there is increase, what great stupidity!”

“Yes, at least that’s what the experts are saying. It worked for China!”

“Hmmm. Maybe, although at this point it feels moot. The horse is well out of the gate. “

“Yes but it's too late now”

“Yes, open borders is a mistake”

“It should have happened earlier when it was under control. Now... Only to and from countries affected. But not even that is going to help much”

“Absolutely! It helps countries fight it on their own and stops the spread from new areas.”

“Yes,  Also it has a good environmental impact!”

“Absolutely! It helps countries fight it on their own and stops the spread from new areas.”

“It just slows it down. But it will come”

“Yes of course. China has locked down its borders. The result being a leveling off of new cases. Several Asian countries learned lessons from SARS and H1N1 and had quick responses to the outbreak, such as Singapore, and were prepared including limiting travel.”

“Stopping travel will definitely help the virus stay within the countries with the highest rate. The countries with less cases would get rid of it faster.. containing things will always slow growth.”

“According to the WHO and CDC and the health advisors in the affected countries — aka the only people who know and would be qualified to answer this — it’s a clear “yes” 

“Clearly yes- but also i am flying to thailand on sunday, starting a 1 year around the world trip”

“Yes it can will inevitably slow spread, I dunno what people say too late at work about. Ok yes it's still growing but closing borders and isolation is the only logical way to stem the blood flow.”

“Yes!! The amount of people needing treatment at 1 single point will be less, thus the burden generally on the countries (every aspect) will be less.”

“If it is borne by the travellers then, Yes.”

Some people gave their own advice as:

“I think we should improve medical care and research and proper sanitation and hygiene will be most effective. make sure we always have masks available for sick people and hand sanitizer in public areas”

And some people had a no as an answer:

“No,  The genie is out of the bottle.”

“I just don't understand why it wasn't done in Jan/ Feb when the outbreak became globally known, even earlier. (Prevention is better than cure) Now, after it's spread to over 100 countries over 125,000 confirmed cases and nearly 4,600 deaths, there are some travel bans.

I think containment is not possible at this stage. I think it would slow the spread, but only in a very slow way, until hopefully they find a cure/ vaccine. A travel ban will not slow the spread within a country. It will probably always remain around, spreading as a mild infection, like the flu.”

So what should I do now? Should I travel ? Or should I cancel my trip?

These are just few of the words from the travel lovers around the world who are in dilemma for what would happen if the outbreak persists. We could see there are mixed responses, some are very worried by facing the cancellation of the trip and some are very strictly in favor of the travel restriction and ban applied by many countries.

But sometimes we have to do what is right then what We want. At this moment, if your purpose of travel is not something emergency or extremely important, it will be advisable to wait until the situation gets better.

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