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

• UN refugee agency ‘greatly alarmed’ over mass displacement in Congo conflict (Reuters on MSN.com). The U.N. Refugee Agency said on Friday it was “greatly alarmed” by clashes between government forces and armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that had caused hundreds of thousands to flee.
• Uganda MPs propose tough penalties for same-sex affairs (The EastAfrican). Ugandan lawmakers on Thursday introduced legislation to parliament that proposes tough new penalties for same-sex relations in a country where homosexuality is already illegal, defying criticism from human rights groups.
• Deaths reported after shooting at Jehovah’s Witness hall in Germany (NBC News on MSN.com). Deaths were reported Thursday after shots were fired at a building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in Hamburg, Germany, police said.
• Iraq’s crackdown on booze, social media posts raises alarm (AP). Only a few months into its term, Iraq’s government is suddenly enforcing a long-dormant law banning alcohol imports and arresting people over social media content deemed morally offensive.
• Amid the biggest reported missile attack on Ukraine in weeks (UN News), the UN’s atomic energy agency, IAEA, said on Thursday that Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant had to switch to backup generators once again, after losing all power. “Each time we are rolling a dice. And if we allow this to continue time after time then one day our luck will run out,” the IAEA chief warned. He added that “there is enough diesel on site for 15 days” to supply the plant’s “essential” needs but that the situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power station remains critical.
• At least 36 people killed by extremists in eastern Congo (ABC). Congo’s military said Thursday at least 36 people were killed by extremists in the country’s conflict-riddled east

Demonstrations

• France Faces Another Day of Nationwide Protests Against Macron’s Pension Plans (U.S. News & World Report). France faced a seventh day of demonstrations on Saturday against President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform plans amid ongoing rolling strikes which have affected refineries, public transport and garbage collections.
• Dutch farmers in the Netherlands, climate activists get ready for pre-election protests (Yahoo News). Hundreds of Dutch farmers carrying flags and banners began gathering in The Hague on Saturday for a protest against government plans to limit nitrogen emissions, a policy they say will spell the end of many farms.

Infrastructure

• Colombians face food, medicine shortages as protesting miners block roads (Reuters). Up to 300,000 people in Colombia are suffering shortages of food and medicine after informal and illegal gold miners blocked roads in protest of the destruction of their machinery by authorities, ministers said on Thursday.

Natural Disasters

• Vanuatu has been affected by destructive winds and heavy rains, brought by two category 4 cyclones and followed by a 6.6 M earthquake between 1- 4 of March (ERCC). The disasters have caused widespread damage and destruction. Port Vila area and Tanna Island are the most affected areas. The cost of damages is estimated at USD 50 000 000. 30,000 households are affected, and 5,000 people are still displaced in evacuation centres.
• Mount Merapi, located between Central Java Province and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, increased its volcanic activity on March 11 (ERCC), and it is still ongoing, with pyroclastic and lava flows that descended mostly into the southwestern flank from the summit.
• Heavy rainfall, heavy snowfall, strong winds and thunderstorms have been affecting northern and central California and the neighboring western Nevada in the United States over the past few days (ERCC), causing floods, rivers overflow (in particular the Pajaro River) and a number of severe weather-related incidents that have resulted in casualties and damage.
• In Indonesia, heavy rainfall has been affecting several Regencies of the South Sumatra and Lampung Provinces since March 9 (ERCC), causing floods, triggering landslides and resulting in casualties and damage.
• Peru has been affected by Cyclone Yaku (ERCC), and reports six fatalities in Piura and Lambayeque Departments and a landslide in Huancabamba (Piura Department) blocking the main road, leading to 70,000 inhabitants isolated. A State of Emergency has been declared in various provinces.
• Mozambique and Malawi were on Monday counting the cost of Tropical Storm Freddy (IB Times), which ripped through southern Africa for the second time in a month over the weekend, leaving a trail of destruction and killing at least 17 people. The full extent of the damage and loss of life in Mozambique in particular is not yet clear, as the power supply and phone signals were cut off in some parts of the affected area.

Health

• PAHO warns of rising chikungunya cases in the Americas, some fatal (CIDRAP). Cases are surging, especially in Paraguay and Brazil, with conditions ripe for further spread and health systems weakened by the pandemic and other demands.
• Children face acute risk amid Malawi’s deadliest cholera outbreak (The Guardian). The disease, which has killed 1,500 people since last March, has been aggravated by heavy rains and an overburdened health system.
• Five countries report more vaccine-derived polio cases (CIDRAP). Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, and Nigeria all have new cases, and the GPEI confirms the earlier-reported case in Israel. Vaccine-derived poliovirus is a well-documented type of poliovirus that has mutated from the strain originally contained in the oral polio vaccine (OPV). The OPV contains a live, weakened form of poliovirus.
• Long COVID: 3 years in (The Lancet) March 11 marks 3 years since WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. While the world is determined to move on from the acute phase, at least 65 million people are estimated to struggle with long COVID, a debilitating post-infection multisystem condition with common symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction, impairing their ability to perform daily activities for several months or years.

Humanitarian

• In Zimbabwe, recurrent climatic shocks and a protracted and deteriorating economic environment have left millions requiring humanitarian assistance (ERCC). Due to climatic shocks, over 41,000 people remain internally displaced in camps and host communities. They live under severe health and protection risks, including mistreatment, gender-based violence, early/child marriage, exploitation, and social exclusion.
• The humanitarian situation in Mozambique’s Northern Province of Cabo Delgado continues to deteriorate (ERCC). Mozambique faces multiple shocks, including conflict in Northern Mozambique, frequent natural hazards, disease outbreaks, and the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 restrictive measures.
• Life-threatening hunger caused by climate shocks, violent insecurity and disease in the Horn of Africa (UN News), have left nearly 130,000 people “looking death in the eyes” and nearly 50 million facing crisis levels of food insecurity, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. In addition to the dramatic hunger crisis, the region has never seen such a high number reported disease outbreaks this century, according to WHO.

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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