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

• The growth of terrorism is a major threat to international peace and security (UN News), currently felt most keenly in Africa, the deputy UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday.
• Sixteen UN-appointed independent human rights experts encouraged Iranian authorities on Friday to stop indicting people with charges punishable by death for participating in peaceful demonstrations (UN News). Since nationwide protests in November 2019, the death penalty has been used widely under unsubstantiated murder or vague national security charges against individuals for participating in demonstrations.
• Russian missiles struck Ukraine on 15 November (ERCC), in a wave of attacks targeting energy infrastructure that led to power outages and forced shutdowns, according to Ukrainian authorities. Three residential buildings were hit in Kyiv.

Demonstrations

• Videos posted online showed crowds breaking through barriers (Reuters) in the southern city of Guangzhou in China in defiance of movement restrictions.

Natural Disasters

• A stone quarry collapse occurred in Maudarh village in Mizoram State in north-eastern India on 14 November resulting in casualties (ERCC). According to media reports, eight people have died and four others are missing. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing.
• Since October, heavy rainfall has caused flooding across Togo (ERCC), affecting particularly Maritime Region in the south, and Savannah Region in the north.
• Heavy rainfall has been affecting parts of Colombia (particularly the Bogotá area, and the Departments of Cundinamarca and North Santander) over the past few days (ERCC), causing floods, triggering landslides and leading to casualties and damage.
• Heavy rainfall has been affecting the southernmost Provinces of Thailand (bordering northern Peninsular Malaysia) since 11 November (ERCC), causing floods and flash floods that have resulted in damage.
• Heavy rain has been affecting south-eastern Australia (particularly parts of southwest New South Wales and northeast Victoria) for the past 24 hours (ERCC), causing flash floods, rivers overflow, and resulting in evacuations and damage.
• Heavy rainfall has been affecting the Souh-Kivu Province (eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo) since 13 November (ERCC), triggering landslides and causing floods and a number of severe weather-related incidents that have resulted in casualties and damage.
• Heavy rainfall has been affecting most of the Minas Gerais State (south-eastern Brazil) since late September (ERCC), causing floods and flash floods that have resulted in casualties and damage. As of 15 November, there are 27 municipalites across the state under declaration of emergency situation.
• Floods continue to affect eastern Australia (ERCC), resulting in casualties and widespread damage.

Gatherings

• The 2022 FIFA World Cup will take place between 20 November and 18 December 2022 in Qatar (ERCC). Thirty-two countries will participate in this event, including 10 EU Member States: Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, and Poland. A total of 64 matches will take place in eight stadiums and spread across five Qatari cities. It is expected that, approximately 1.5 million football fans from around the world will travel to Qatar during this event, some of them staying outside of Qatar. The FIFA Fan Festival will take place at Al Bidda Park in Doha and will be open every day of the tournament from 19 November to 18 December. Potential threats during the World Cup include COVID-19, MERS-CoV and monkeypox. As is often the case with mass gathering events, visitors may be most at risk of gastrointestinal illness and vaccine-preventable infections.  It is recommended travelers are up to date with influenza and COVID-19 vaccines, and to employ standard hygiene measures including regular hand washing with soap, drinking safe water (bottled, chlorinated or boiled before consumption); eating thoroughly cooked food and carefully washing fruit and vegetables with safe drinking water before consumption; and stay at home or a hotel room when sick.

Health

• Long recovery, brain damage, effect of stressors with long COVID (CIDRAP). Two of the 4 new studies show that SARS-CoV-2 can profoundly damage the brain for months.
• Kids at similar risk for long COVID as adults, study suggests (CIDRAP). Kids were 30% more likely than controls to have symptoms 3 months or more after COVID-19.
• Long-COVID rate may be similar whether hospitalized or not (CIDRAP). 60% of hospitalized COVID patients and 68% of those not hospitalized had at least one symptom 2 years later.
• Covid’s Mutations Leave Doctors With Far Fewer Antibody Drugs to Treat Virus (Bloomberg) Covid-19’s constant mutations have proven nearly impossible for drugmakers to keep up with. Omicron’s newest variants threaten to render the last two antibody drugs on the market ineffective: Eli Lilly & Co.’s bebtelovimab, which is used to treat symptoms, and AstraZeneca Plc’s Evusheld, which helps prevent infections. 
• US flu levels climb as RSV swamps kids’ hospitals (CIDRAP). A flu surge comes as RSV continues to overwhelm pediatric hospitals in some states.
• China Eases Some Pandemic Policies, While Sticking to ‘Zero Covid’ (NYT) As China’s economy continues to be squeezed by the cost of the country’s zero-tolerance approach to Covid, the government on Friday softened some of its restrictions, even as it remained committed to its strict pandemic policy.
• Uganda ends school year early as it tries to contain growing Ebola outbreak (NPR) The Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports has ordered schools across the country to end the school year early in order to prevent the further spread of Ebola among schoolchildren.
• Ebola sickens another Ugandan health worker (CIDRAP). Uganda has reported one more lab-confirmed Ebola infection, which involves a 23-year-old woman who is a healthcare worker in Mubende, one of the outbreak’s hot spots, according to an update yesterday from the World Health Organization (WHO) Uganda office.

Humanitarian

• A steep rise in civilian casualties across Somalia (UN News), largely at the hands of Al-Shabaab militants, has exacerbated an already grim human rights and humanitarian situation there, said the UN human rights chief on Monday.

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.

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