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 and 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

• Nigeria. Armed men kidnapped 73 children from a school in the northwestern Nigerian state of Zamfara in the latest mass abduction in the region, police said in a statement on Wednesday (Reuters). Four state governments in northern and central Nigeria have imposed a series of restrictions on residents in a bid to stop mass kidnappings and other violent crimes plaguing the region (MSN).
• Congo (DRC). Four civilians were killed and dozens taken hostage in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday when a convoy was ambushed (Reuters).
• Afghanistan. Taliban forces and fighters loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, fought in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley on Thursday, with each side saying it had inflicted heavy casualties in recent days of combat in the last province resisting Taliban rule (Reuters). Western Union Co (WU.N) is resuming money-transfer services to Afghanistan, a senior executive told Reuters on Thursday (Reuters). Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on Thursday the Gulf state was talking with the Taliban and working with Turkey for potential technical support to restart operations in Kabul airport (Reuters). The Taliban said that the discussions held on forming a new government have been finalized and they will soon make an announcement (TOLO).
• Thailand. Thousands of people protested in central Bangkok on Thursday to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and said they would return every day until he leaves office (Reuters).
• Poland‘s president has declared a state of emergency in parts of two regions bordering Belarus due to increase influx of migrants and upcoming Belarus’s military drills (Reuters).
• Yemen. Fighting has flared up between Yemen’s pro-government forces and Houthi rebels in the oil-rich government stronghold of Marib province, with at least 28 fighters killed over the last 24 hours (AP)

Natural Disasters

• South Sudan. Widespread floods triggered by heavy rains have been affecting several parts of the country, especially the areas along the main rivers (Nile, Lol and Sobat) and tributaries since the beginning of the rainy season (early May), resulting in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Indonesia. Heavy rain has been affecting western and eastern Indonesia (in particular Sumatra and Sulawesi Islands) since 29 August, causing rivers overflow, floods and triggering landslides that have resulted in evacuations and damage (ERCC).
• United States. Widespread wildfires have been occurring over several parts of western USA, resulting in an increasing number of evacuations and damage (ERCC).
• Guatemala. Heavy rain has been affecting central and estern Guatemala (in particular Guatemala, Sololá, Suchitepéquez, and Zacapa Departments) over the past few days, causing floods, landslides and a number of severe weather-related incidents that have resulted in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Spain. An intense rain storm on Wednesday wreaked havoc in several parts of Spain, causing severe flooding in some towns, leaving thousands of people without electricity and forcing the closure of some roads and rail links (Reuters).
• Brazil. Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao said on Wednesday a severe drought could lead to energy rationing in Brazil, contradicting other officials who have said that such a step would not be necessary (Reuters).
• Jordan‘s population has doubled in the past 20 years, while the share of water per person per year has plummeted to 80 cubic metres from 3,400 at the turn of the century, official figures show, and available supplies are only enough for three million of Jordan’s 10 million inhabitants (Reuters).

Health

• India. Air pollution is likely to reduce the life expectancy of about 40% of Indians by more than nine years, according to a report released by a U.S. research group on Wednesday (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:

• China‘s aviation regulator is likely to keep the current tight caps on international flights throughout the first half of 2022, analysts cited Air China as saying this week (Reuters).
• Singapore, having reached the 80% mark on vaccination for its population, will allow quarantine-free entry to vaccinated visitors from just two countries: Germany and Brunei (Reuters).
• Canada. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said on Wednesday that people would have to show digital proof they had been inoculated against COVID-19 to enter a wide range of establishments, dropping earlier opposition to the idea (Reuters).

Global cases and deaths. As of 02 September, Johns Hopkins University counts 218,641,868 COVID-19 cases and 4,546,512 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 01 September 217,558,771 cases and 4,517,240 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Japan on Wednesday confirmed its first cases of the new mu variant of the coronavirus in two people arriving from abroad through airport screenings (Japan Times).
• World. With just under 4.4 million new cases reported this week (23-29 August), the number of new cases reported globally remains similar to the previous week after increasing for nearly two months (since mid-June). In the past week all regions reported either a decline (Africa, Americas) or a similar trend (Europe, South-East Asia, Eastern Mediterranean) in new cases, except for the Western Pacific Region which reported a 7% increase as compared to previous week. The number of deaths reported globally this week were also similar to last week, with just over 67 000 new deaths reported. The Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific Regions reported an increase in the number of weekly deaths, 9% and 16% respectively, while the South-East Asia Region reported the largest decrease (20%). The cumulative number of cases reported globally is now nearly 216 million and the cumulative number of deaths is just under 4.5 million (WHO).
• India reported the biggest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases in two months on Thursday (Reuters)
• Turkey. Turkey’s daily coronavirus cases rose to a three-week high of 23,946 on Wednesday (Reuters).
• Vietnam could be facing a lengthy battle against the coronavirus and cannot rely on lockdown and quarantine measures indefinitely, its prime minister said, as the country struggles to contain its deadliest outbreak so far (Reuters).

Variants

• Mu variant. B.1.621 was classified as a VOI (variant of interest) on 30 August 2021 and given the WHO label “Mu”. The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies (WHO).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 01 September, Our World in Data reports 39.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 5.38 billion doses have been administered globally, and 40.99 million are now administered each day. Only 1.8% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 01 September over 5.28 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• South Africa. An arrangement whereby Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (JNJ.N) was shipping COVID-19 vaccine doses to Europe that had been packaged in South Africa has been suspended, African Union (AU) envoy Strive Masiyiwa said on Thursday (Reuters).
• Canada. Canada will donate more than 1.3 million doses of AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine to three African countries through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, GAVI said on Thursday (Reuters).
• Cuba will begin vaccinating adolescents against COVID-19 this week and younger children from mid-September as part of a drive to immunize more than 90% of the population by December (Reuters).
• Thailand‘s health ministry said on Thursday that its COVID-19 vaccine regimen of China’s Sinovac (SVA.O) followed by British-developed AstraZeneca (AZN.L) was safe and successfully boosted immunity among its first 1.5 million recipients (Reuters).
• United Kingdom. Britain will give severely immunosuppressed people a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine to increase their chances of generating a better immune response, although officials stressed the offer was separate from any broader booster vaccine programme (Reuters).

Studies

• United Kingdom. A new study, not peer reviewed yet, notes that as many as 1 in 7 children may have symptoms linked to the coronavirus months after testing positive for COVID-19 (Reuters).
• United States. Viral infections are a common cause of myocarditis. Some studies have indicated an association between COVID-19 and myocarditis. During March 2020–January 2021, patients with COVID-19 had nearly 16 times the risk for myocarditis compared with patients who did not have COVID-19, and risk varied by sex and age (CDC).

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.