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.

More health and security information 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, and the CDC, ECDC, and WHO sites. Not all advise in these sites will apply to US travelers.

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

• Syria. The situation in Dara’a in Southern Syria remains tense with an estimated population of 55,000 people in Dara’a al-Balad under siege since 24 June (ERCC).
• Niger. On 9 August, a violent attack by non State armed groups (NSAG) occurred in Banibangou area, Tillaberi region, killing 15 civilians. The frequency of these attacks is increasing at an alarming rate in Tillaberi region (ERCC).
• Libya. The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said on Tuesday that it is “deeply concerned” over the abduction of a senior Government staff member, who disappeared last week after being taken away by unidentified armed men (UN News).
• Myanmar. Six months after seizing power in a coup, Myanmar’s military leaders now appear to be moving to consolidate their rule, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Tuesday (UN News).
• Afghanistan. Reports of violations that “could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity” have emerged, including “deeply disturbing reports” of the summary execution of surrendering government troops (UN News). The Taliban seized the capitals of Badakhshan, Baghlan, and Farah Provinces yesterday, bringing the total number of capitals seized to nine in less than a week. The group has ramped up its offensive in Afghanistan as talks on the country’s security take place in Qatar this week (NYT). Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan completed joint military exercises near Tajikistan’s border with Afghanistan. Russia has pledged to defend the former Soviet countries against security threats emanating from Afghanistan (RFE/RL). The European Union is not in a position to deal with a repeat of the migration crisis in 2015 and must try to keep people from fleeing the growing conflict in Afghanistan, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said on Wednesday (Reuters). Six EU member states have warned the bloc’s executive against halting deportations of rejected Afghan asylum seekers arriving in Europe despite major advances of Taliban militants in their country (Reuters), while Germany and the Netherlands have announced a freeze on deportations to Afghanistan (Reuters). Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands called on the European Union to press Afghanistan to accept deported asylum seekers after Kabul said it would stop accepting deportees for three months. Finland, Norway, and Sweden, however, said they would halt deportations to Afghanistan given its security crisis (Al Jazeera). 
• Nicaragua. 5,379 refugee requests by Nicaraguans were submitted in July to Costa Rica’s migration agency, triple the May figure. The spike came as the Nicaraguan government arrested some 30 activists and political opponents, including potential candidates in the November presidential election (Reuters).
• China. A Chinese court sentenced Canadian businessman Michael Spavor (SCMP) to eleven years in prison for espionage in a case that is widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive wanted by the United States (SCMP).

Natural Disasters

• Algeria. Wildfires that have been affecting the Kabylia Region in northern Algeria since 9 August. The Algerian government has requested assistance from the international community (ERCC).
• Russia. Heavy rain in the past week in eastern Russia has caused river overflow and floods, resulting in displacement and damage (ERCC).
• United States. Several forest fires continue to burn throughout western USA (in particular across California, and Washington States), resulting in casualties, displacement and damage (ERCC).
• Spain and Portugal are bracing for temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, in coming days, as a mass of hot, dry air from Africa moves north into the Iberian peninsula (ABC).
• Greece. A big blaze that swelled overnight in the Peloponnese peninsula forced the evacuation of many villages as exhausted firefighters battled wildfires across Greece for a ninth day on Wednesday (Reuters on MSN).

Developments

• Mexico. Shipping companies are steering cargo toward the United States and away from Mexico’s Pacific ports due to rail blockades that are making the country an unfavorable destination to transport goods (MND).

COVID-19

International preventative measures against COVID-19, including entry restrictions and in-country mobility remain fluid, and can be imposed without prior notice.  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:

• Australia. A Sydney man who caused a weeklong lockdown in a coastal Australian town is being charged with breaching public health orders (NYT). Melbourne will stay locked down for a second week after reporting 20 new COVID-19 cases caused by Delta variant (Reuters).
• Bangladesh’s health care system is buckling under the ferocity of the country’s third, and by far deadliest, wave of coronavirus infections, and only 4 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. Yet the country of 165 million people lifted much of its lockdown on Wednesday (NYT).
• China‘s tighter social restrictions to fight its latest COVID-19 outbreak, now in its fourth week and involving more than a dozen cities, are hitting the services sector especially travel and hospitality in the world’s second-largest economy (Reuters).
• Europe. How much do COVID-19 test upon arrival cost in different EU countries? According to European Consumer Centre (ECC) France, countries like Germany (up to 150 euros) and Belgium (up to 120 euros) have the highest costs of getting tested for COVID-19, while some others like Greece and Italy (anywhere between 20 and 30 euros) have the cheapest (Schengenvisainfo).

Global cases and deaths. As of 11 August, Johns Hopkins University counts 204,266,754 COVID-19 cases and 4,319,125 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 10 August 203,295,170 cases and 4,303,515 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Bangladesh continues to observe high COVID-19 figures, with an average of 10,000 new positive cases and over 200 deaths per day and positivity rates around 25% (ERCC).
• South Korea reported more than 2,200 new daily COVID-19 cases, a record since the pandemic began last January (Reuters).
• France’s overseas territories, especially the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe, are being badly hit by the pandemic. “The situation is dramatic,” France’s President Macron said in opening comments at a virtual meeting with senior cabinet ministers (Guardian).
• Russia reported 799 Covid deaths on Wednesday – hitting an all-time high for the fourth time in the last month (Guardian).
• The Philippines health ministry has reported 12,021 coronavirus cases on Wednesday – the largest single-day increase in four months – and 154 new deaths (Guardian).
• Senegal. Ambulance teams in Senegal are struggling with a wave of Covid cases, reports the Associated Press (Guardian).
• Belgium. Seven residents of a nursing home in Belgium have died after being infected with a variant of the coronavirus first detected in Colombia. All were fully vaccinated, all were in their 80s or 90s, and some of them were already in a poor physical condition, the virology team that conducted tests said on Friday. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has listed B.1.621 as a “variant of interest” (Reuters).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 10 August, Our World in Data reports 30.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 15.8% is fully vaccinated. 4.54 billion doses have been administered globally, and 36.66 million are now administered each day. Only 1.2% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 11 August over 4.37 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Thailand. Two coronavirus vaccines being developed in Thailand that are administered by nasal spray are to begin human trials by the end of the year (Guardian).
• Spain’s medicines agency has authorised the first round of clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Spanish company Hipra, the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said (Guardian).
• World. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that a clinical trial in 52 countries would study three anti-inflammatory drugs as potential treatments for Covid-19 patients (Guardian).
• Canada. Moderna said Tuesday it has reached a deal with the Canadian government to build a “state-of-the-art” manufacturing plant in Canada to make Covid vaccines and potentially shots for other respiratory viruses after the country was plagued by supply shortages earlier this year (CNBC).

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.