World Status Report

This report intends to give the UTD Community a snapshot of international risks, and other issues as reported by the linked media 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

• Afghanistan. Thousands of boys and girls have been killed or injured over the past two years amid the deteriorating political and security situation in Afghanistan, according to the latest UN report on Children and Armed Conflict, which was issued on Monday, a day after the Taliban consolidated control over the country (UN News).  Evacuations continue, with the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul secure (CNN). Uganda said on Tuesday it had agreed to a request from the United States to take in temporarily 2,000 refugees from Afghanistan (Reuters).
• Thailand police again used water cannon and teargas to disperse protesters near the office of the prime minister, as opposition parties moved to censure him in parliament over his handling of the pandemic. Hundreds marched on government house to demand his resignation (Guardian).
• Nicaragua has cancelled operating permits for six NGOs from the United States and Europe, days after President Daniel Ortega’s government faced sanctions for arresting prominent political opponents (Al Jazeera).

Natural Disasters

• Haiti reports 1,419 fatalities after the 7.2 M earthquake on 14 August. In addition, more than 6,900 people have been injured and more than 83,000 houses damaged or destroyed. The passage of Tropical Cyclone GRACE is complicating rescue efforts and the situation of those that have been displaced (ERCC). The earthquake brought down tens of thousands of buildings and a storm caused flooding near the worst-hit areas (Reuters).
• Germany. Flash floods close to the German-Austrian border triggered by heavy rainfall resulted in casualties, displacement and damage (ERCC).
• France. Several forest fires have been reported in southern France, one in particular located close to the Town of Gonfaron (Var Department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region), burning an area of 5,000 hectares (ERCC).
• Spain-Portugal. Several forest fires are burning in Spain and southern Portugal resulting in casualties, displacement and damage (ERCC).
• Turkey. The death toll from flash floods that swept through several towns in Turkish Black Sea provinces last week has risen to 77 people and emergency workers are continuing to search for 47 who are missing, authorities said on Monday (Reuters).
• Israel is seeking international help to battle wildfires outside Jerusalem that have forced hundreds to evacuate and sent clouds of smoke billowing over the city, the foreign ministry said on Monday (Reuters).

Health

• Guinea. A Marburg fever outbreak was declared on 9 August 2021 in Guinea Conakry (N’zérékoré region) with one confirmed case (died on 3 August) and 173 contacts (ERCC).
• Ivory Coast. An Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak was declared on 14 August 2021 in Cote D’Ivoire, with two cases (one confirmed), both hospitalised in Abidjan. The confirmed patient travelled five days by bus with 70 passengers and was symptomatic when they arrived in Abidjan on 11 August (ERCC). Ivory Coast began vaccinating health workers against Ebola in the commercial capital Abidjan on Monday (Reuters).

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:

• Japan on Tuesday extended its state of emergency in Tokyo and other regions and announced new measures covering seven more prefectures to counter a spike in COVID-19 infections that is threatening the medical system (Reuters).
• China. Several Chinese ports are facing congestion as vessels due to call at Ningbo are bing diverted and cargo processing is slowed partly due to stricter disinfection measures under China’s “zero-tolerance” coronavirus policy. Leading international shipping groups have warned their clients of delays and route adjustments. (Reuters).
• Singapore. With just a few dozen Covid-19 deaths and one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, Singapore wants to reopen for business – and is laying the groundwork to live with the coronavirus as it does other common diseases such as influenza.  Its medical experts say there may be hundreds of deaths each year from endemic Covid-19, similar to the flu. That pragmatic approach could set an example for other countries looking to exit lockdowns as they ramp up their own inoculation programs (Guardian).
• New Zealand will go into a national lockdown after detecting one case of the Delta variant in the community. The entire country will be at alert level four – the country’s highest level of lockdown – for three days, and the regions of Auckland and Coromandel for 4-7 days (Guardian).
• Iran has announced a six-day country-wide shutdown to curb an alarming rise in deaths and infections. The shutdown will begin on Monday and last through Saturday. All offices, banks and non-essential businesses will be shut down. An intra-city travel ban will also be instated from Sunday morning and last through Saturday night (Al Jazeera).

Global cases and deaths. As of 17 August, Johns Hopkins University counts 208,102,368 COVID-19 cases and 4,376,019 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 16 August 207,173,086 cases and 4,361,996 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Australia. COVID-19 cases are set to “rise substantially” in Sydney in the coming weeks despite a prolonged lockdown, authorities said on Tuesday, warning soaring infections have already put hospitals under enormous strain (Reuters).
• United Kingdom. NHS patients are waiting more than three months for tests including MRIs, colonoscopies and heart scans, with overall waiting lists doubling in some parts of England, as the health system continues to tackle the Covid pandemic backlog (Guardian).
• Mexico registered 7,172 new COVID-19 infections and 272 more deaths, health ministry data showed on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 3,108,438 and the death toll to 248,652 (Reuters).
• Germany. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 3,912 to 3,827,051, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday (Reuters).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 16 August, Our World in Data reports 31.7% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 23.7% is fully vaccinated. 4.76 billion doses have been administered globally, and 37.24 million are now administered each day. Only 1.3% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 16 August over 4.46 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Afghanistan. The World Health Organization (WHO) is worried about the spread of the coronavirus in Afghanistan as the upheaval caused by the Taliban advance and seizure of power has slowed vaccinations, a spokesperson said on Tuesday (Reuters).
• Egypt. Britain donated 299,700 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to Egypt, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday (Reuters).
• Rwanda. The United States is sending nearly half a million doses of Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) COVID-19 vaccine to Rwanda (Reuters).
• Thailand will purchase an additional 12 million doses of Sinovac’s (SVA.O) coronavirus vaccine to try to expedite its rollout, a senior official said on Tuesday, despite concerns over its efficacy against the Delta variant of COVID-19 (Reuters).
• India administered more than 8.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, government data showed on Tuesday, close to its all-time record and speeding up a campaign to inoculate all eligible adults by December (Reuters).
• United States experts are expected to recommend vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country (Guardian).
• France. The poorest region in mainland France has managed to dramatically speed up its Covid-19 vaccination campaign in recent weeks, notably by opening walk-in pop-up centres to reach out to people where they live and work (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.