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

• Somaliland Clashes Kill At Least 96 In Two Weeks: Hospital (Barron’s). At least 96 people have been killed in more than two weeks of clashes between security forces and clan members in the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland, a hospital director said Thursday.
• Papua New Guinea kidnappers free woman, still hold 4 others (ABC News). Police say kidnappers have released a woman who was held for several days in a remote part of Papua New Guinea and security forces are continuing to negotiate for the freedom of four other hostages.
• Gaza rockets, Israeli strikes follow deadly West Bank raid (AP). Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rockets at southern Israel and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the coastal enclave early Thursday after a gunbattle triggered by an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank killed 10 Palestinians.
• The Islamic State group has carried out its deadliest attacks in more than a year (AP), killing dozens of civilians and security officers in the deserts of central Syria, even as people of northern Syria have been digging out of the wreckage from the region’s devastating earthquake.

Infrastructure

• In northern China, a mine collapse occurred in the Alxa League Prefecture on 22 February (ERCC), resulting in casualties. According to media reports, at least four people died while almost 50 are still missing.

Natural Disasters

• Heavy rain, floods and landslides have been occurring across São Paulo State in Brazil since 18-19 February (ERCC), resulting in casualties. At least 48 people have died.
• In Madagascar and Mozambique, the National Bureau of Risk and Disaster Management reports as of 23 February (ERCC), four fatalities, 8,644 displaced people with some across 37 evacuation centers, and a total of 16,709 affected people across 4 regions due to Tropical Cyclone FREDDY.
• Heavy snowfall and low temperatures have been affecting eastern and southern Morocco since 18 February (ERCC), leading to evacuations, people in need and damage.
• Floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall affected Ecuador over 18-21 February (ERCC), and resulted in casualties and damage.
• A major winter storm battered the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest in the United States with high winds and heavy snow (Reuters), forcing hundreds of schools to close, grounding air travel and making road travel difficult – if not impossible – in some U.S. areas.

Health

• There is an outbreak of chikungunya in Paraguay (CDC). Most cases have been reported in the Asunción metropolitan area. Mosquitos spread the virus that causes chikungunya. Some 12 thousand Paraguayans are sick and 23 dead from Chikungunya (Prensa Latina) The figures are part of the general statistics of the last three weeks, a period in which health authorities detected a total of 19,101 suspects for arbovirosis, including 203 for dengue, according to the Department of Health Surveillance. Of the 23 deaths from chikungunya, 61 percent are men and 39 percent are women, the Ministry of Health added. Only during the last week, 2,389 chikungunya infections and 37 dengue infections were diagnosed, the source said. The Paraguayan regions most affected by the disease are the Central department, near this capital, with 7,344 cases, and Asunción, with 3,266. 
• Bird flu kills sea lions and thousands of pelicans in Peru’s protected areas (Reuters). Bird flu has killed tens of thousands of birds, mostly pelicans, and at least 716 sea lions in protected areas across Peru, the authorities said, as the H5N1 strain spreads throughout the region. Peru recorded its first case of the virus in November in birds in the north of the country. Since then it has killed 63,000 birds, according to government data. “We have also recorded since mid-January the unusual death of many sea lions, so far we have about 716 dead sea lions in seven protected natural areas of the coast,” said Roberto Gutierrez, head of surveillance of the National Service of Natural Protected Areas. 
• More Than Half of Long Covid Patients Suffer From Organ Damage Up To One Year After Covid Infection (Forbes). In a recent study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, researchers analyzed MRI data of long Covid patients and found that mild organ damage continued to take place in 59% of the patients even up to one year after they got infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. From the MRI data, the researchers observed that mild damage took place in patients’ heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen, and pancreas. The researchers particularly focused on patients who were suffering from severe breathlessness, cognitive issues, and a significantly lower quality of life after a Covid-19 infection. Out of the 536 patients with long Covid who were a part of the study, 13% had been hospitalized after being diagnosed with the viral condition. And around 32% of the study’s participants were health care workers. Their mean age was 45 and 73% of them were women. 

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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