World Status Report

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

In Afghanistan, the drought, the second in three years, and ongoing military response in the wake of a “spring offensive” by the Taliban, have uprooted some 270,000 people who have fled rural areas for urban centres (UN News). Surging COVID-19 cases as the Delta variant spreads, a collapsed health system, and “deep mistrust” of the military junta, are a “perfect storm” of factors that could lead to further major loss of life in Myanmar, the UN independent expert on the human rights situation in the country warned on Wednesday (UN News). Eswatini is in the midst of its most intense and significant protests against their monarch in recent history. The monarchy’s response was violent, with many protesters killed and disappeared. The internet was shut down for over a week. Many of the protest leaders are now in hiding, even as pro-democracy protests continue (UN Dispatch). Three Ethiopian regions previously untouched by the war in Tigray confirmed on Thursday that they were deploying forces to back military operations there, signaling a potential widening of the conflict (Al Jazeera). South Africa has begun deploying more than 20,000 troops to assist police in quelling week-long unrest, as the death toll soared to 117 people in the rioting and looting following the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma (Al Jazeera). A United States advisory cautions businesses that operating in Hong Kong carries ‘financial, legal and reputational risks’ (WSJ).  Lebanon‘s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has given up trying to form a new government after nine months of deadlock over its make-up, pushing the country deeper into crisis (BBC). Mexico‘s federal government will concentrate its anti-crime efforts on the 50 municipalities with the highest rates of insecurity (MND).

Natural Disasters

In Belgium widespread floods continue, resulting in an increasing number of casualties, displacement and damage. In the Netherlands, thousands of people have been evacuated in Limburg Province following the overflow of the Meuse river. In Luxembourg, evacuations are ongoing in the eastern parts of the country due to floods. Heavy rain has been affecting parts of France over the past few days, causing floods, triggering landslides and resulting in casualties and damage. The number of casualties due to extensive and damaging flooding in western Germany has increased. Widespread flooding caused by heavy rain has been affecting as well northern and central Switzerland, resulting in damage (ERCC).

Health

An outbreak of pulmonary and bubonic plague has been reported in Ituri province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2021, whereby in the Fataki health zone of the Ituri province, a cluster of suspected cases of the pulmonary form of plague has been detected for the first time in over a decade. According to media, an outbreak of Zika virus has been detected in the Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala state, India. So far, 28 cases have been detected (ECDC).

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: Japan faces growing challenges for the Olympics. Athletes in isolation. A host city under a state of emergency with coronavirus cases surging. Empty venues where winners will place medals around their own necks (NYT). Canada is preparing to open its borders to fully vaccinated travelers in the coming months (NYT). Barcelona and the surrounding north-east corner of Spain is to impose a curfew from 1am to 6am again amid rising Covid cases (Guardian). France has said that masks are to be required in all public spaces indoors and out in a southern region bordering Spain, after Covid infections soared this week (Guardian). Boris Johnson’s plan to lift virtually all of England’s pandemic restrictions on Monday is a threat to the world and provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants, international experts say (Guardian). Vietnam has jailed a man for 18 months for breaking strict Covid-19 quarantine rules, spreading the virus to others and causing financial damage to authorities, state media reported (Guardian). The organisers of the British Grand Prix are confident they can safely hold the biggest sporting event since the pandemic began. More than 140,000 spectators will attend the race at Silverstone on Sunday, with approximately 350,000 expected over the three days of the meeting (Guardian). Thailand is considering bringing in tighter coronavirus curbs in a bid to contain soaring infections, as authorities reported on Friday a record number of cases despite imposing partial lockdowns in Bangkok and nine other provinces this week (Reuters). Unvaccinated residents in parts of China will be banned from accessing public services including hospitals, schools and nursing homes, as the country targets an inoculation rate of at least 80% against Covid-19 (CNN). The Philippines has recorded the country’s first locally acquired cases of the more infectious Delta variant, prompting authorities to reimpose stricter coronavirus measures in some areas (Reuters).

Global cases and deaths. As of 16 July, Johns Hopkins University counts 189,116,682 COVID-19 cases and 4,069,670 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports 188,332,972 cases and 4,063,453 deaths.

As notable cases:  Russia has reported 799 coronavirus-related deaths, the most in a single day since the pandemic began and the fourth day in a row it has set a record (Guardian). The more contagious Delta variant is sweeping across Africa. Namibia and Tunisia are reporting more deaths per capita than any other country. Hospitals across the continent are filling up, oxygen supplies and medical workers are stretched thin, and recorded deaths jumped 40 percent last week alone. But only about 1 percent of Africans have been fully vaccinated (NYT). Hungary will offer the option of taking a third dose of a vaccine from 1 August, and will make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for all healthcare workers (Guardian). In cities across Java island, hospitals are so overwhelmed that they are turning patients away. Burial workers are working until after dark to keep up with the fatalities (Guardian). England’s chief medical officer warned that Covid hospitalisations were doubling every three weeks and could hit “scary numbers” in future. Prof Whitty said the pandemic still had a “long way to run in the UK“. The UK recorded almost 50,000 new cases on Thursday – the highest daily number since January (BBC). Indonesia reported 54,517 new cases of Covid-19, authorities said Wednesday, a single-day national record and dire warning sign for the world’s fourth-most populous country (CNN).  The Middle East and North Africa is witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases aggravated by the Delta variant of the virus — and it may get worse over coming weeks — according to the World Health Organization (CNN). The head of the World Health Organization has acknowledged it was premature to rule out a potential link between the Covid-19 pandemic and a laboratory leak, and said he was asking China to be more transparent as scientists search for the origins of the coronavirus (Guardian).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 15 July, Our World in Data reports 25.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 3.57 billion doses have been administered globally, and 29.03 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 3.4 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:   Nearly 50 African countries are to receive 25m Covid-19 vaccine doses donated by the US, with the first shipments to Burkina Faso, Djibouti and Ethiopia in coming days, officials and the Gavi vaccine alliance have said (Guardian).

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.