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

• Guinea. West Africa’s main political and economic bloc suspended Guinea’s membership on Wednesday following a weekend military coup that ousted President Alpha Conde and dealt the latest in a flurry of setbacks to democracy in the region (Reuters).
• Nigeria. The start of the school term has been pushed back to an unusually late date in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT). More than 1,100 pupils have been abducted from their schools across northwest Nigeria since December (Reuters).

Natural Disasters

• Sudan. On 4-6 September widespread floods occurred in 53 villages of southeastern White Nile State resulting in an increasing number of casualties (ERCC).
• Mexico. Heavy rain has been affecting central Mexico over the past 48 hours, causing rivers overflow, floods, and flash floods that have resulted in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Ecuador. Heavy rain has been affecting central Ecuador over the past few days, causing rivers overflow, and floods that have resulted in casualties and damage (ERCC).

Health

• Congo (DRC). Laboratory tests confirmed an outbreak of meningitis in the Tshopo province. The outbreak was officially declared on 7 September 2021 and 233 suspected cases and 126 deaths have been reported so far (ERCC).
• Japan. A plan to release radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean will be examined in December by international experts sent by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Japan’s industry ministry said on Thursday (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:

• Australia. Sydney’s cafes, restaurants and pubs are set to reopen in the second half of October after months of strict COVID-19 lockdown (Reuters).
• Japan extended emergency COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday in Tokyo and other regions until the end of this month to curb infections and prevent hospitals being overwhelmed (Reuters).
• Thailand plans to reopen Bangkok and other key destinations to foreign tourists next month (Reuters).
• Singapore is ramping up COVID-19 testing and has warned it would not rule out reimposing tighter curbs as infections rise (Reuters).
• Ukraine lifted lockdown restrictions as cases dropped over the summer but could impose a nationwide “yellow” code, which restricts mass events, and limits the occupancy rates of gyms, cinemas and other culture venues (Reuters).
• Bulgaria. About 2,000 Bulgarian restaurant and club owners, waiters, bartenders and gym instructors protested in the centre of the capital Sofia on Wednesday against newly imposed COVID-19 restrictions (Reuters).
• Scotland. It is expected that by the end of September, proof of double vaccination would be required to allow people entry to nightclubs and large events under plans unveiled by the Scottish government last week. But details of how the system will work in practice remain unclear (Guardian).
• France has granted citizenship to more than 12,000 frontline workers whose jobs put them at risk during the Covid pandemic under a special fast-track scheme (Guardian).

Global cases and deaths. As of 09 September, Johns Hopkins University counts 222,692,758 COVID-19 cases and 4,598,888 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 08 September 221,648,869 cases and 4,582,338 deaths.

As notable cases:

• India. As Mumbai, gets ready for its biggest festival of the year, daily coronavirus cases have surged, rising more than two-fold in less than a month, even as authorities imposed curbs to prevent a further spike (Reuters).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 08 September, Our World in Data reports 41.3% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 5.6 billion doses have been administered globally, and 30.38 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:

• Italy’s medicines agency, AIFA, has given the go-ahead to the administration of Covid-19 booster shots (Guardian).
• World. The World Health Organization called on Wednesday for countries to avoid giving out extra Covid jabs until year-end, pointing to the millions worldwide who have yet to receive a single dose, AFP reports (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.