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

• Yemen. While the violence in Marib Governorate continues, the dire humanitarian situation further deteriorates with civilians bearing the brunt of the fighting. Since the beginning of the year, more than 2,900 households have reportedly been displaced in Marib only, accounting for 35% of all newly displaced families countrywide (over 8,200 families in 2021). Women and children constitute almost 80% of the displaced population (ERCC).
• Burkina Faso. On 18 August, a non-state armed group attacked a convoy composed of local populations and security forces (ERCC).
• Hong Kong. Four student leaders charged with “advocating terrorism”. The four, aged 18-20 and all from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), are the latest democracy activists to be denied bail under a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on the former British colony last year (Reuters).
• Afghanistan. Protests against the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan spread to more cities on Thursday, including the capital Kabul, and a witness said several people were killed when the militants fired on a crowd in Asadabad in the eastern province of Kunar (Reuters).

Natural Disasters

• Ethiopia. On 17-18 August, flash floods caused by heavy rainfall were reported across Addis Ababa capital city (central Ethiopia) leading to casualties (ERCC).
• Malaysia. Heavy rain has been affecting Kedah State (northwest Malaysia) over the past few days, causing flash floods and leading to casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Guatemala. Heavy rainfall has been affecting several parts of Guatemala since 16 August, causing floods, triggering landslides and resulting in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• France. Southern France continues to be affected by a number of forest fires, intensified by drought conditions and strong winds. Up to 5,630 people remain displaced, while 300 houses are affected by power outages (ERCC).

Health

• Ivory Coast has identified an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu near the commercial capital Abidjan and has taken steps to curb its spread, the livestock ministry said in a statement (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:

• The European Union will recognise national Covid certificates from Turkey, Ukraine and North Macedonia from tomorrow, opening the way to easier travel for their residents, the European Commission said (Guardian).
• Spain. A Spanish court has lifted a coronavirus curfew imposed on most of Catalonia, including the capital Barcelona, leaving it in place in just a fraction of the northeastern region (Guardian).
• The United States will require that nursing home staff be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding (Guardian).
• Singapore will allow quarantine-free entry from next month to travelers from Germany and Brunei who are vaccinated against COVID-19, its aviation regulator said on Thursday, as part of a plan to gradually reopen its borders (Reuters).The British man sentenced to six weeks in prison for refusing to wear a mask has been released and will now be deported (Guardian).
• Hong Kong and Singapore decided not to further pursue a bilateral air travel bubble due to the differences in the anti-epidemic strategies currently adopted by the two places (Reuters).

Global cases and deaths. As of 19 August, Johns Hopkins University counts 209,508,222 COVID-19 cases and 4,816,661 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 18 August 208,470,375 cases and 4,377,979 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Japan has recorded a record number of coronavirus cases while critical care beds in Tokyo are nearing capacity less than a week before the city is due to host the Paralympic Games (Guardian).
• New Zealand. The outbreak in the New Zealand city of Auckland has grown to 21, with models predicting as many as 100 people could already be infected. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said genome sequencing has linked the cluster to a returnee from Australia (Guardian).
• Australia has reported another record number of cases, 681, in the state of NSW (Guardian).
• South Korea reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases for the second time as it struggles to subdue a wave of outbreaks during the summer holidays, driven by the more contagious Delta variant (Guardian).
• Mexico has posted a record 28,953 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, Reuters reports, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3,152,205, health ministry data showed (Guardian).
• Iran’s death toll from COVID-19 exceeded 100,000 on Thursday with 564 fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours, state TV said (Reuters).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 18 August, Our World in Data reports 32% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 24% is fully vaccinated. 4.84 billion doses have been administered globally, and 34.95 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 18 August over 4.54 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• South Africa.  Since mass public vaccination began in May, only 11% of the nationwide adult population has so far been fully immunised and many vaccination sites are standing empty despite hundreds of Covid-related deaths each day (Guardian). South Africa will open up COVID-19 vaccinations to those aged between 18 and 35 years old from Friday, the government said in a statement, as it tries to ramp up its immunisation drive (Reuters).
• Ireland has administered at least one dose to 90% of adults, the head of the vaccine rollout has announced. He said 83% of adults were fully vaccinated after 6.46m vaccine doses were administered to date (Guardian).
• Haiti‘s COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been stalled by Saturday’s quake and medical personnel, equipment and logistical support are urgently needed to help the country deal with multiple health emergencies, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday (Reuters).

Studies

• Fully vaccinated adults can harbour virus levels as high as unvaccinated people if infected with the Delta variant, according to a sweeping analysis of UK data, which supports the idea that hitting the threshold for herd immunity is unlikely (Guardian).
• A lack of exercise is linked to an increased risk of severe Covid-19 and associated complications, according to a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Researchers found that “consistently meeting physical activity guidelines was strongly associated with a reduced risk for severe Covid-19 outcomes among infected adults” (Guardian).

Shortages

• Semiconductor chip shortage. In grim warnings this week, major carmakers including Toyota (7203.T) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) offered fresh evidence that the auto industry remains firmly in the grip of an ongoing semiconductor chip shortage amid global supply chain disruption, recently hit by COVID-19 case surges in Asian countries home to auto factories and chip plants such as Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, leading to stricter curbs to prevent the spread of the virus (Reuters).

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.