World Status Report
July 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
The worsening security situation across Afghanistan in the wake of foreign troop withdrawal and Taliban advances, has forced an estimated 270,000 from their homes since January, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday, bringing the total internally displaced to more than 3.5 million (UN News). The Beijing-controlled electoral commission in Macau banned twenty-one candidates, including fifteen from pro-democracy groups, from running in September elections (Guardian). Protests and looting after the jailing of former South African President Jacob Zuma have escalated into the country’s worst unrest in decades, with more than seventy people killed and over 1,200 arrested (Al Jazeera). One man has died in Cuba and more than 140 have been arrested or reported as missing during rare demonstrations against its government (BBC).
Natural Disasters
Severe weather has been impacting various countries resulting in casualties, displacement, and damage. Floods, landslides, and strong winds in Indonesia, the Gambia, and Germany. On 15 July there is a red alert for extreme high temperature over Latvia, southern and eastern Hungary, and most of Serbia (ERCC).
Health
In India, desperation grows for those unable to access subsidized food, as worst hunger in two decades reported (Guardian).
COVID-19
International preventative measures against COVID-19, including entry restrictions and in-country mobility remain 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: In Japan, just over a week before the opening ceremony, new cases linked to the Games and spiking infections in the host city highlight the risks of staging the world’s biggest sports event during a pandemic even without spectators in sports venues (Reuters). The Philippines will ban travellers coming from Indonesia to prevent the spread of the Delta variant (Guardian). Australia extends Sydney lockdown by another 14 days as COVID-19 outbreak nears 900 infections (Reuters). As the COVID Delta variant continues to spread rapidly within the European Union countries, France has announced stringent rules against unvaccinated persons travelling from the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal (Schengenvisainfo)
Global cases and deaths. As of 13 July, Johns Hopkins University counts 187,941,030 COVID-19 cases and 4,051,232 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports 187,296,646 cases and 4,046,470 deaths.
As notable cases: Vietnam has broken another grim daily record as cases continue to rapidly climb, with 2,934 infections announced on Wednesday (Guardian). Singapore reported its highest number of community coronavirus cases in 10 months, linked to an infection cluster in karaoke bars (Guardian). Daily coronavirus cases in Iran have soared above 23,000 for the first time since late April as the country battles its fifth wave of the pandemic (Guardian). Indonesia recorded its biggest daily increase in coronavirus infections with 54,517 cases on Wednesday (Guardian). South Korea on Wednesday tightened social distancing curbs across most of the country to try to combat its worst-ever outbreak of coronavirus after new cases on Tuesday soared past previous daily peaks to 1,615 (Guardian). A Genting Cruise Lines ship on a “cruise to nowhere” has returned to Singapore after a confirmed case of COVID-19 in a passenger, and the nearly 3,000 passengers and crew on board were confined to their cabins through most of Wednesday (Reuters). The number of new COVID-19 cases reported daily in the United States has doubled over the past three weeks, a rise that follows months of decline, according to Johns Hopkins University data (AP).
Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 13 July, Our World in Data reports 25.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 3.51 billion doses have been administered globally, and 29.67 million are now administered each day. Only 1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports over 3.27 billion administered vaccine doses.
As notable cases: Thailand plans to mix Sinovac and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines. Critics say that’s risky (CNN). Tanzania’s semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago begun vaccinations against the coronavirus, leading the way in a nation that downplayed the extent of the pandemic for more than a year (Bloomberg).
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.
