The US Centres for Disease Control yesterday warned travellers not to visit Bermuda after a massive rise in Covid-19 cases.

The announcement came after the island was moved to Level 4 – “very high” risk – on the CDC’s travel advisory list.

Stephen Todd, the CEO of the Bermuda Hotel Association, said that the move was “disappointing news” for the tourism sector.

He added: “Clearly, all efforts are being locked on trying to calm this fourth wave and hopefully that will be successful in the days and weeks to come.”

Mr Todd said: “The hotels have experienced some cancellations in terms of overall bookings, which is not totally unexpected as we, along with other destinations, are being watched very closely.”

He said it was too early to say what how much the sector would be hit, but that the situation would be monitored.

Almost 90 countries are included in the CDC’s Level 4 category – where a country has reported more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the previous 28 days.

The Ministry of Health reported 259 new cases of Covid-19 last Sunday, which brought the number of active cases up to 1,427.

The CDC website said: “If you must travel to Bermuda, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.

“Because of the current situation in Bermuda, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants.”

Bermuda was earlier listed as Level 3 – between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

The CDC has generally recommended that Americans should avoid international travel unless they were fully vaccinated.