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. Fierce fighting continues to rage across front lines in proximity to Marib City, resulting in high numbers of casualties, including civilians, massive displacement and violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). October saw the highest monthly civilian casualty count of the year, with 358 civilian casualties, including 114 fatalities (ERCC).
• Ethiopia. Ethiopian authorities have detained more than 70 drivers working with the United Nations, a U.N. spokesperson said, amid international alarm over reported widespread arrests of ethnic Tigrayans as the war in the country’s north escalates (Reuters).
• Nigeria. The minister says the prevalence of the various security threats in the country has adversely affected food security. He said the attacks by Boko Haram Terrorists and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the North-east as well as banditry and herder/militia in the North-west and North-central had continued to pose serious security threats to Nigeria (All Africa).

Natural Disasters

• Somalia experiences its third consecutive poor rain season since late 2020. The southern part of Somalia, Jubaland and South-West states, suffers severe drought while the north-eastern part of the country goes through widespread moderate drought. Significant crop and livestock losses are reported in southern states (ERCC).
• Vietnam. Heavy rain has been affecting central Vietnam for the past few days, causing floods, triggering landslides. The most affected Provinces are Kon Tum, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai (ERCC).
• Algeria. Severe weather, including heavy rain and strong winds, was reported on 9 November across Algeria, resulting in casualties (ERCC).
• Sri Lanka. Floods, mudslides and landslides triggered by heavy rain have been affecting Sri Lanka since the end of October and continue to cause an increased human impact (ERCC).
• Canary Islands. The eruption is ongoing in Cumbre la Vieja volcano (La Palma Island, Canary Islands), and the lava flow has exceeded the pre-existing front moving south and reaching the coast at Playa de Los Guirres. The amount of the affected area by the lava is more than 988 ha (ERCC).

Health

• China has reported an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) at a pig farm on the island province of Hainan in the southern part of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday. African swine fever is harmless to humans but often fatal for pigs (Reuters).

Migration

• Belarus. An increased migratory pressure at the border with Belarus has been observed since the summer. The total number of arrivals from Belarus to the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in 2021 amounts to 7,935. On 8 November some 2,000 people gathered on the Belarusian side and moved towards Kuznica Bialostocka (Poland), attempting to force their crossing. According to media reports a second wave of migrants is expected to arrive from Minsk on 10 November. The humanitarian situation of the refugees and migrants, including vulnerable groups  stranded at the border, remains of concern and is likely to deteriorate ahead the winter (ERCC).
• Poland. Migrants trapped in Belarus made multiple attempts to force their way into Poland overnight, Warsaw said on Wednesday, announcing that it had reinforced the border as the European Union prepares to impose sanctions on Belarus over the crisis (Reuters).
• Afghanistan. As many as 4,000-5,000 Afghans have been crossing into Iran daily since the Taliban seized Kabul in August and hundreds of thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming winter, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Wednesday (Reuters).
• Central America. The leader of an effort by Central American migrants to walk across southern Mexico said Monday the group will now head to the U.S. border, rather than Mexico City as originally planned. The Mexican government has been attempting to discourage the march, saying the poor conditions are putting the migrants’ lives at risk (AP).

Of note

• Europe. Even though European travel demand has recently increased due to the high vaccination rates, volumes are still far compared to the pre-pandemic period and are not expected to reach the latter until 2024. Such conclusions have been reached through the European and Tourism Trends and Prospects quarterly report conducted by the European Travel Commission (ETC) (SchengenVisaInfo)

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:

• China. The Shanghai Marathon has been postponed indefinitely, said the organisers of the run in a post on their website on Tuesday, amid rising COVID-19 cases in China (Reuters).
• France. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that those aged 65 and older will need to present proof of a COVID-19 booster shot from mid-December for health passes that give access to restaurants, trains and planes to remain valid (Reuters).

Global cases and deaths. As of 10 November, Johns Hopkins University counts 251,054,359 COVID-19 cases and 5,068,233 deaths. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 09 November 250,154,972 confirmed cases, including 5,054,267 deaths.

As notable cases:

• China‘s southwestern city of Chengdu said on Wednesday it had conducted 30,000 COVID-19 tests on visitors at a mega entertainment centre, and rounded-up those who tried to flee the site, in the second mass screening at a large venue in days (Reuters).
• Czech Republic and Slovakia reported fresh surges in coronavirus infections on Wednesday and again had to start limiting non-urgent hospital care to cater for admissions of COVID-19 patients (Reuters).
• World. During the week 1 to 7 November 2021, a slight upward trend (1% increase) in new weekly cases was observed, with over 3.1 million new cases reported. Over 48 000 new deaths were reported, a 4% decrease from the previous week. The WHO European Region reported increases in case and death incidence, while other regions reported declines or stable trends. As of 7 November, over 249 million confirmed cases and over 5 million deaths have been reported (WHO).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 09 November, Our World in Data reports 51.2% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 7.34 billion doses have been administered globally, and 28.14 million are now administered each day. Only 4.2% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 08 November over 7.084 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Guinea will begin vaccinating children aged 12-17 against COVID-19 with a consignment of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines on Wednesday, the health ministry said (Reuters).
• Thailand will set aside up to 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for foreign workers as it prepares to welcome them back to the country to help ease a labour shortage, a government minister said on Wednesday (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.