World Status Report
June 15, 2021
This report intends to give the UTD Community a snapshot of international risks, and other issues as reported by the linked official sources from the U.S. and other countries.
Please note the publication date of this report, and go to the direct sources linked for the most up-to-date information. The information in this report may change without prior notice.
Security
Civilians continue to flee armed conflict and insecurity in northern Mozambique, more than two months after militants attacked the coastal city of Palma, located in Cabo Delgado province (UN News). Armed conflict and other violence are intensifying in many parts of Myanmar, including Kayah State, Chin State and Kachin State, with the violence particularly intense in areas with significant ethnic and religious minority groups, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Friday (UN News). An upsurge in deadly clashes between gangs in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has displaced more than 5,000 people since the beginning of the month (UN News). Ongoing fighting between government and regional forces in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has put some 350,000 people at risk of famine (UN News). In Tunisia‘s capital, youths clashed with officers again Saturday evening, hours after a demonstration to protest police violence following the latest death of a man arrested by police (France24). Nicaraguan authorities detained five prominent opposition figures for allegedly inciting foreign interference in the country’s affairs. The arrests follow the detentions of seven other opposition members earlier this month (BBC).
Natural Disasters
An earthquake in Yunnan Province in southern China has damaged over 2500 houses, at this time there are no reports of casualties (ERCC). Severe weather has impacted various countries resulting in displacement and damage. Heavy rain and strong winds in Pakistan. Floods and landslides in Indonesia and Philippines (ERCC).
Réunion (France) reports an increase of 4 602 dengue cases since the last CDTR report with data as of 25 May 2021 (ECDC). On 8 June 2021, Chinese authorities notified a new case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N6) in Sichuan Province, China. The patient is now in serious condition. Exposure history is unknown for this case (ECDC).
COVID-19
International preventative measures against COVID-19, including entry restrictions and in-country mobility remain very fluid, and can be imposed without prior notice. Details for each country can be found in the travel advisories issued by the governments of the United States, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia. The UNWTO and IATA Destination Tracker offers relevant information on a destination status. The Timeline of EU Member States Reopening Their Borders offers a list of opened EU countries for travelers, and dates of warned opening.
As notable cases: UEFA European Football Championship (UEFA EURO 2020), which was postponed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will take place between 11 June and 11 July 2021. Eleven countries will host the games, of which seven are EU countries: Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain. Other countries are Azerbaijan, Russia, England and Scotland (United Kingdom). Twenty-four teams will be playing the matches with an estimated 460,000 spectators in this period (ECDC). In Russia, the mayor of Moscow called on nonessential workers who are not vaccinated to work from home this week as new coronavirus cases spike and vaccination rates remain low (WaPo). South Korea will lift its 14-day quarantine for some travelers who have been vaccinated outside the country as it prepares to loosen domestic social distancing curbs (WaPo)
Globally, as of 14 June, Johns Hopkins University counts 176,014,759 COVID-19 cases and 3,805,327 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports 175,541,600 cases and 3,798,361 deaths.
As notable cases: Britain’s media widely reported Monday that the widely anticipated lifting of all restrictions would be delayed under pressure from rising infections linked to the coronavirus delta variant (WaPo). Australia’s Victoria state reports 2 local COVID-19 cases (Reuters). Full hospitals in Afghanistan close doors to new patients as COVID-19 surges (Reuters). Brazil reports 1,129 new COVID-19 deaths, nearly 40,000 cases (Reuters). Democratic Republic of the Congo president says Kinshasa hospitals ‘overwhelmed’ by coronavirus (Reuters). About a quarter of Mexico‘s 126 million people are estimated to have been infected with the coronavirus, the health ministry said on Friday, far more than the country’s confirmed infections (Reuters). COVID-19 deaths in 2021 worldwide have surpassed the total number of COVID-19 deaths in all of 2020, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data yesterday. As of Jun 10, 1,884,146 people have died of COVID-19 in 2021, compared with the 1,880,510 in 2020 (CIDRAP).
Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 13 June, Our World in Data reports 2.39 billion administered vaccine doses globally. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 10 June over 2.15 billion administered vaccine doses.
As notable cases: Trial shows new Novovax vaccine 90 percent effective (WaPo). Myanmar’s military junta has arrested the chief of its vaccination program on a charge of high treason even as the country battles a second wave of the virus (WaPo)
Please note the publication date of this report and go to the direct sources linked for the most up-to-date information. The information in this report may change without prior notice.
