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

• Ethiopia. Rebellious forces from the Tigray region killed 120 civilians over two days in a village in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, local officials told Reuters on Wednesday (Reuters).

Natural Disasters

• Philippines. Widespread floods and landslides have been reported across Central Luzon, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Calabarzon and Mimaropa (ERCC).
• Mexico. An earthquake of 7.0 M occurred in southern Guerrero State on 8 September at 20.47 local time.  One fatality, building damage, and power outages were reported (ERCC).
• Guatemala. Heavy rain has been affecting central and south-western Guatemala over the past few days, causing floods, landslides and a number of severe weather-related incidents that have resulted in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Sudan. Flash floods following torrential rains have left a swath of destruction across Sudan. Entire farms and villages have been swept away, the capital Khartoum has been hit hard, and essential road links disrupted, while there are concerns that floods will also inundate the camps hosting thousands of South Sudanese refugees (Dabanga).

Health

• World. Hundreds of thousands of people will die of tuberculosis left untreated because of disruption to healthcare systems in poor countries caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the  Global Fund said (Reuters).
• Ethiopia. The World Food Program warns that emergency food needs in northern Ethiopia are increasing, as conflict spills beyond the embattled Tigray region into neighboring Afar and Amhara provinces (VOA).

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:

• Vietnam was a Covid success story but the latest lockdown, with people unable to leave the house even for food, is leaving tens of thousands hungry (Guardian).
• Switzerland will have people show a Covid-status certificate to enter bars, restaurants and fitness centres as of Monday, in a move to relieve pressure on hospitals (Guardian).
• Belgium. The city of Brussels is expected to introduce a Covid vaccine pass from 1 October, requiring residents to prove their health status to enter bars, restaurants and other public places (Guardian).
• South Korea is drawing up a plan on how to live more normally with Covid-19, expecting 80% of adults to be fully vaccinated by late October (Guardian).
• Australia. Victoria Police say future organised large gatherings will not be tolerated, and police will act on intelligence to stop them, after dozens of worshippers gathered near a synagogue in south-east Melbourne earlier this week, in breach of Covid-19 lockdown rules (Guardian).
• New Zealand’s plans to reopen its borders to the world early next year will have to undergo a complete reworking, the government has warned, as the country races to stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant (Guardian).

Global cases and deaths. As of 08 September, Johns Hopkins University counts 222,273,570 COVID-19 cases and 4,591,915 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 08 September 221,648,869 cases and 4,582,338 deaths.

As notable cases:

• The Czech Republic on Wednesday recorded 588 new cases of coronavirus, the highest daily tally since May 25, as government officials predict a continued rise in infections (Reuters).
• Italy reported 69 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday against 71 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 5,923 from 4,720 (Guardian).
• United Kingdom. The British government said a further 191 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday, bringing the UK total to 133,674 (Guardian).
• United States. In Idaho, public health leaders have activated “crisis standards of care” allowing health care rationing for the state’s northern hospitals because there are more coronavirus patients than the institutions can handle (Guardian).
• World. COVID-19 is something that is likely here to stay, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said yesterday. “I think this virus is here to stay with us and it will evolve like influenza pandemic viruses, it will evolve to become one of the other viruses that affects us,” Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a press briefing (CNBC)
• World (WHO). The global incidence of COVID-19 cases has remained stable over the month with over 4.4 million new cases reported this week (30 August-5 September). During this period:
  • All regions reported either a decline (Regions of Africa, South-East Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean) or a similar trend (Regions of Europe and the Western Pacific) in new weekly cases, except for the Region of the Americas which reported a 19% increase as compared to previous week.
  • The number of deaths reported globally this week also remained similar to the previous week, with just under 68 000 new deaths reported. The incidence of new deaths declined in all regions apart from the Region of the Americas and Europe where deaths increased by 17% and 20% respectively.
  • The cumulative number of cases reported globally is now just over 220 million and the cumulative number of deaths is over 4.5 million.

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 07 September, Our World in Data reports 41.1% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 5.56 billion doses have been administered globally, and 31.23 million are now administered each day. Only 1.9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 06 September over 5.35 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Venezuela has received its first batch of coronavirus vaccines through the COVAX mechanism (Reuters).
• World. The Covax vaccine-sharing initiative is set to receive 575m fewer anti-Covid shots this year than previously estimated, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) has warned (Guardian).
• Thailand. A pilot bus service has been launched in Thailand’s capital to ensure that the elderly and other vulnerable groups in Bangkok are vaccinated against Covid-19, underscoring the country’s push to speed up its inoculation campaign (Guardian).
• Australia will support a global push to waive intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines to allow for cheaper generic versions to be manufactured in developing nations, following months of pressure from human rights groups and foreign governments (Guardian).
• United States. As of Tuesday morning, 75% of US adults had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced (Reuters).
• Spain‘s healthcare regulator has approved a third dose of COVID-19 vaccines for people with severely compromised immune systems (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.