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

• Cuba. Authorities have begun prosecuting participants in the recent unprecedented anti-government demonstrations in summary trials that started this week (MH).
• Haiti. Hundreds of workers fled businesses in northern Haiti on Wednesday after demonstrations near the hometown of assassinated President Jovenel Moïse grew violent ahead of his funeral (AP).
• Mexico. Just like the Zapatista rebels before them, the indigenous people of Chiapas state in southern Mexico have taken up arms, though this time they said it was to beat back the organized crime gangs plaguing their communities (Reuters).

Natural Disasters

• China. 105,000 people were evacuated after Tropical Cyclone CEMPAKA made landfall over Guangdong Province, with heavy rainfall affecting the southern and western parts of the province, according to the Chinese news agency (Xinhua) (ERCC).
• Japan. Evacuation orders have been issued for Miyakojima and Yaeyama Islands, as Tropical Cyclone IN-FA is expected to intensify before landing early morning 23 July  (ERCC).
• Indonesia. Heavy rainfall has been affecting Borneo Island (in particular West Kalimanatan Province, in the Indonesian part of the Borneo) since 13 July, causing floods that have resulted in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Russia. Several forest fires in Karelia Region (north-western Russia), near the border with Finland are affecting an area of approximately 700 hectares. Up to 600 people have been evacuated in the region and a state of emergency has been declared (ERCC).
• Romania. Heavy rainfall, strong winds and thunderstorms have been affecting central and north-eastern Romania since 18 July, triggering landslides, floods and causing a number of severe weather related incidents that have resulted in casualties and damage (ERCC).

Health

• India reported a young boy was the first human to die in the country from avian influenza, but that none of his close contacts have had symptoms of the disease. Avian flu is typically found only in birds such as chickens and turkeys and is not easily transmitted to humans (Bloomberg).
• Nigeria. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported during the first six months of 2021, 13 confirmed monkeypox cases from five states and no deaths. This compares to eight confirmed cases reported in all of 2020 (ONR).

Developments

• Argentina. The country has become the first in Latin America to issue gender-neutral national identification cards, allowing people to identify as neither male nor female (MercoPress).

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:

• Greece. Thousands of people demonstrated on Wednesday in Athens and other Greek cities against plans to make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for all health workers, with police using tear gas and water cannon to disperse some protesters (Guardian).
• Tunisia. The army’s health department will be put in charge of Tunisia’s pandemic response, president Kais Saied has said, as tensions rise in government amid the country’s worsening health crisis (Guardian).
• Australia‘s two largest states reported sharp increases in new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a blow to hopes that lockdown restrictions would be lifted with more than half the country’s population under stay-at-home orders (Reuters).

Global cases and deaths. As of 22 July, Johns Hopkins University counts 192,149,552 COVID-19 cases and 4,130,252 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports 191,148,056 cases and 4,109,303 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Myanmar. The COVID-19 situation in Myanmar is likely the worst in Southeast Asia and is expected to deteriorate further. The military’s seizure of medical facilities and equipment, the overall state of unrest in Myanmar, the collapse of the economy and the isolation of the country has led to one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world, now compounded by COVID-19 (ERCC).
• United Kingdom. Britain now second highest in world for new Covid cases – as global infections jump 12% in a week (Standard).
• Indonesia reported the highest number of new Covid infections in the world last week, according to the World Health Organization (CNBC).
• Mexico on Wednesday reported its biggest jump in new confirmed cases of Covid-19 since January, with 15,198 registered infections and 397 additional deaths, bringing its total to 2,693,495 infections and 237,207 fatalities, according to health ministry data (Guardian).
• The Americas is being hit with “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” as cases rise in countries with low inoculation rates, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned, calling for vaccine donations (Guardian).
• Germany’s infection levels will pass 400 per 100,000 people in September if cases keep rising at their current pace, the health minister has said (Guardian).
• World. The global number of new cases reported last week (12-18 July 2021) was over 3.4 million, a 12% increase as compared to the previous week. The Western Pacific Region recorded the largest increase in cases, 30%. The European Region recorded a 21% increase in cases. The South-East Asia region recorded an increase of 16% and the Eastern  Mediterranean Regions 15%. The number of deaths increased in the South-East Asia and the Western Pacific Regions by 12% and 10%,respectively. The  African, Eastern  Mediterranean and  European Regions reported similar numbers of  deaths  as  compared  to  the  previous  week, whereas the  Region of Americas reported a 6% decrease (WHO).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 21 July, Our World in Data reports 26.8% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 13.3% is fully vaccinated. 3.76 billion doses have been administered globally, and 29.7 million are now administered each day. Only 1.1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports over 3.56 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Africa, battling a severe third wave of COVID-19 infections, will start to receive the first batch of 400 million doses of vaccines from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) next week, the African Union’s special envoy on COVID said on Thursday (Reuters).
• Israel is about to become the first country in the world to test an oral COVID-19 vaccine (JPost).
• Chile’s Institute of Public Health has approved the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use (Guardian).
• Uganda. At least 800 people in Uganda were given fake Covid-19 vaccines in a scam that involved “unscrupulous” doctors and health workers, government officials have said (Guardian).
• Latin America and Caribbean. Only 15% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, as “more and more disease trends are showing a region divided by vaccine access,” the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said on Wednesday (CNN)

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.