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

• Ukraine’s interior minister was among at least 15 people killed when a helicopter crashed near a nursery outside Kyiv (Reuters). Ukrainian officials said nine people on board the aircraft and six on the ground, including three children, died.
• Attacks on electoral commission sparks concerns for Nigeria polls (Al Jazeera English on MSN.com). Experts say the new wave of attacks takes insecurity in Nigeria into uncharted territory ahead of the elections.
• Authorities said Tuesday that they had unearthed 10 dismembered bodies from under the floor of an events hall in central Mexico (AP) in the town of Tenango del Valle, just west of Mexico City .

Demonstrations

• Congo police scatter protesters denouncing slow M23 rebel pullback (Reuters). Police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Congo’s eastern city of Goma on Wednesday who were calling on authorities to enforce an agreed withdrawal of M23 rebels from occupied territory in the region.
• Thousands of nurses in Britain walked out Wednesday in a new protest over pay (AP), with no end in sight to a wave of strikes that has piled pressure on the U.K.’s overburdened public health system.
• France braces for ‘hellish Thursday’ as pension strikes loom (France 24). France is to face severe public transport disruptions on Thursday, operators have warned, as workers join a nationwide strike against a widely unpopular pension reform plan.

Natural Disasters

• Across Baja California State in north-western Mexico (ERCC), heavy rainfall, accompanied by low temperatures has caused floods and landslides affecting particularly Tijuana City with casualties and damage.
• On 16 January, a landslide occurred in the Puca Toro sector of the Locroja District in central-western Peru (ERCC), resulting in casualties and damage.
• Several parts of Spain have been affected (ERCC) by heavy rainfall, snowfall, strong winds, and high waves, impacting particularly the northern third of the Peninsula and causing damage to infrastructure.

Health

• Due to the persisting drought in the Grand Sud, Madagascar and after-effects of the cyclones in the Grand Sud-Est (ERCC), more than 2 million people are expected to face high levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) during the lean season (November 2022 – March 2023) according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis published on 4 January 2023. This figure includes 252,000 people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4).
• Chinese authorities have acknowledged that supplies of Paxlovid are still insufficient to meet demand (Reuters), even as Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said last week that thousands of courses of the treatment were shipped to the country last year and in the past couple of weeks millions more were shipped

Traveler mobility

• Chinese embassies in US, Russia, Brazil, Singapore, Canada, Japan and South Korea issued notices announcing that starting from Tuesday (Global Times), travelers to China must undergo nucleic acid tests within 48 hours before departure, with those who present negative results allowed to enter to China.

Migration

• Almost 250,000 migrants moved northward across the Darién Gap (AP), a dangerous stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama, in 2022, the International Organization for Migration said. The number marks twice as many migrant crossings compared to the previous year.  

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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