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

• Yemen. The escalation of hostilities in Marib governorate has led to civilian casualties, including children and displacement (10,000 IDPs recorded in September, the highest in a single month during 2021) (ERCC). Hundreds of Yemenis are trapped by fierce fighting between government and Houthi forces in the northern Marib governorate, residents and a local official said, after battles for control of the gas-rich region displaced some 10,000 people last month (Reuters).
• Afghanistan. More than 3 million refugees from Afghanistan are trying to reach Iran and Pakistan and the displacement of ethnic and religious minorities in the country may escalate tensions to a critical level, a Russian-led security bloc said on Thursday (Reuters).
• Lebanon. At least six Shi’ites were shot dead in Beirut on Thursday, in an attack on protesters who were heading for a demonstration called by Hezbollah to demand the removal of the judge investigating the explosion that ripped through the city’s port last year (Reuters).
• Pakistan. There has been a surge in violence this year, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS). According to PIPS data, the TTP carried out 95 attacks last year, killing 140 people, and 44 attacks killing 73 people in the first six months of this year (Yahoo News).
• Mexico. Phone extortion in Mexico continuing to rise despite low success rate (Insight Crime).

Natural Disasters

• Hong Kong. Media reports one casualty and 21 injured after passage of tropical cyclone KOMPASU (ERCC).
• Mexico. Media reports material damage to houses and roads across north-western Mexico, due to strong winds and heavy rain related to the passage of PAMELA. Up to 706 people were evacuated in temporary shelters in Sinaloa State (ERCC).
• Guatemala. Strong winds have affected Sololá Department in southern Guatemala over the past few days, resulting in displacement and damage (ERCC).
• Canary Islands. Around 300 more people fled their homes early on Thursday as flows of molten rock pouring from the Cumbre Vieja volcano threatened to engulf another area on the Spanish island of La Palma (Reuters).
• Iraq, Turkey. Another drought is predicted for 2023 as climate change, pollution and upstream damming keep Iraq trapped in a cycle of recurring water crises. Iraq’s neighbours are also suffering from droughts and rising temperatures, which has led to regional water disputes. The water ministry said earlier this year that water flows from Iran and Turkey were reduced by 50 percent throughout the summer (Reuters).

Health

• Congo (DRC). Ebola vaccination began on 13 October in the North Kivu province after one case of Ebola was confirmed in the region. The confirmed case lived in the same community where three members of a family died in September after showing Ebola-like symptoms (ERCC). A second case of Ebola has been confirmed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a health official said on Thursday, a week after a young boy died of the disease, raising fears of another outbreak (Reuters).
• North Korea. North Koreans living under strict pandemic restrictions are facing a growing food crisis and the most vulnerable children and elderly people in the isolated Asian nation are at risk of starvation, a U.N. investigator said in a report released Wednesday (AP).

Of note

• India. State-run Coal India Ltd (COAL.NS) on Thursday said it had temporarily stopped supplying non-power customers, potentially hurting companies in other industries as India battles one of its worst power supply deficits in years (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. The University Vaccine Requirement Checker notes universities that require a COVID-19 Vaccine.

As notable cases:

• Nigeria will require civil servants to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test for the disease to gain access to their offices from the beginning of December, a presidential committee said on Wednesday (Reuters).
• Mexico‘s president on Wednesday hailed a U.S. decision to open their shared border in November after more than 18 months of pandemic restrictions, though millions of Mexicans inoculated with Chinese and Russian vaccines face being shut out (Reuters).
• Indonesia‘s island of Bali reopened to foreign tourists after 18 months of pandemic hiatus on Thursday, but the island is lacking one crucial ingredient: international flights (Reuters).
• South Korea. From November 9, a government scheme would start to ‘review measures like a vaccine pass’ as restrictions ease (Asia Times)

Global cases and deaths. As of 14 October, Johns Hopkins University counts 239,297,575 COVID-19 cases and 4,876,802 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 13 October 238,521,855 cases and 4,863,818 deaths.

As notable cases:

• America. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday that COVID-19 cases are dropping overall in North America but remain high in the American Midwest, Alaska, and Canada’s Northwest Territories, where infection rates are 10 times the national average. Infections are also dropping across South America, though cases are up in the greater Caracas area of Venezuela, and in parts of Chile’s southernmost regions. In the Caribbean, Barbados is reporting the highest number of COVID cases and deaths since the pandemic started, with a five-fold increase in COVID infections over the last month, PAHO said (Reuters).
• New Zealand reported on Thursday its biggest rise in COVID-19 infections in six weeks, with all cases detected in Auckland, raising prospects of a further extension of lockdown restrictions in the country’s largest city beyond next week (Reuters).
• Hungary reported 1,141 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, with the number rising above 1,000 for the first time during the fourth wave of the pandemic, the government said (Reuters).
• United Kingdom. Britain reported 42,776 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest number since mid-July, and 136 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test, official data showed (Reuters).
• Romania. Romanian doctors sent an open letter Wednesday titled “a cry of despair” as the country’s overwhelmed and deteriorated health care system copes with a record-setting surge of coronavirus infections and deaths (AP).
• World. Globally, the numbers of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths has continued to decline since late August. Over 2.8 million new cases and over 46 000 new deaths were reported during the week of 4 to 10 October 2021, representing a 7% and 10% decrease respectively, as compared to the previous week. Apart from the European Region, which reported a 7% increase in new weekly cases, all the other regions reported a decline. The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported from the African Region (32%), followed by the Western Pacific Region (26%). The cumulative number of confirmed cases reported globally is now over 237 million and the cumulative number of deaths is over 4.8 million. The number of new weekly deaths reported, showed a large (>10%) decline for all regions except for the European Region, which reported an increase of 11% as compared to the previous week. The largest decline in weekly deaths was reported from the Western Pacific and the African Regions, with both showing a 34% decline as compared to the previous week (WHO).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 13 October, Our World in Data reports 48% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 6.6 billion doses have been administered globally, and 23.17 million are now administered each day. Only 2.5% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 10 October over 6.36 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• India. Residents of a city in northeast India are spending nights in snaking queues outside vaccination centres awaiting their turn for a COVID-19 shot, an anomaly in a country with a surplus of vaccines (Reuters).
• Africa. As health officials in Gambia and across Africa urge women to be vaccinated, they’ve confronted unwillingness among those of childbearing age (StLToday)

Other COVID-19 impacts

• Long COVID. A systematic review of 57 studies involving more than 250,000 COVID-19 survivors reveals that 54% still had at least one symptom 6 months or more after initial diagnosis or release from the hospital (CIDRAP).

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.