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

• Fighting between Myanmar army and ethnic armed organisation, Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) intensified in Myanmar’s Myawaddy province on 5 April (ERCC). Approximately 4,000-8,000 refugees, including about 800 children, have been displaced to Mae Sot and Mae Ramat districts of Tak province of Thailand.
• The UN on Thursday condemned the multiple rockets fired into Israel from across its northern border with Lebanon (UN News), urging “all actors to exercise maximum restraint”, following several days of rising tension and violence, centred around Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque.
• Haiti gang ambushes, kills 3 policemen as violence soars (AP News). A gang near Haiti’s capital ambushed and killed three police officers on Sunday in the latest attack against an under-resourced and underfunded police department that has reported nearly two dozen officers slain so far this year, according to authorities.
• Environmental defenders reel from Mexico and Central America attacks (The Guardian). A wave of attacks against environmental defenders has left Indigenous and rural communities across Mexico and Central America reeling amid a lack of government protection and widespread impunity.
• Honduras again extends emergency powers to fight violent gangs (Reuters). Honduras’ government on Friday extended until late May emergency powers that suspend some constitutional rights, part of an anti-gang push implemented by leftist President Xiomara Castro in the Central American country’s largest cities.

Demonstrations

• Gunfire, Protests in Ethiopia’s Amhara Over Plan to Disband Regional Force (Reuters on U.S. News). Gunfire was heard in at least two towns in Ethiopia’s Amhara region on Sunday as thousands protested against a federal government order to integrate regional special forces into the police or national army, residents said.
• Thousands join mass Georgian anti-government rally (BBC News). Critics accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of being under the sway of Russia and of backsliding on democracy. The government has been accused of jailing political opponents and silencing
• In mass rally, Israeli settlers march to West Bank outpost (AP). Thousands of Israelis led by at least seven Cabinet ministers marched Monday to an evacuated West Bank settlement, in a defiant signal that Israel’s most right-wing government in history is determined to accelerate settlement building on occupied lands despite international opposition.

Natural Disasters

• Mongolia grass fires threaten border with China – Chinese state media (Reuters on MSN.com). Grassland fires from Mongolia on Monday threatened to spread across the border to China, spurring local Chinese authorities to dispatch teams to intercept them to avert a major blaze, Chinese state media reported.

Health

• On February 13, 2023, Equatorial Guinea declared an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (CDC). Confirmed cases have been reported in multiple districts. Avoid non-essential travel to the districts where the outbreak is occurring.
• Wyoming reports high-path avian flu in cat (CIDRAP). The cat likely contracted the virus from eating meat from exposed waterfowl. In global developments, the virus spread to the southern tip of South America, putting it within range of Antarctica.
• Environmental exposure possible in Chile’s human H5 avian flu case (CIDRAP). The patient’s home was near where H5N1 deaths in wild birds and sea lions had recently occurred.
• CDC warns doctors to watch for Marburg virus amid outbreaks in two African nations (CNN) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory Thursday about the Marburg virus outbreak in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania. Marburg is a rare but highly fatal viral fever that causes uncontrolled bleeding, similar to Ebola. The CDC’s warning says that although there are no cases in the United States and the current risk is low, health care providers should be on the lookout for any imported cases. 
• Many international destinations are reporting increased numbers of cases of measles (CDC). Travelers are at risk of measles if they have not been fully vaccinated two weeks prior to departure or have not had measles in the past and travel internationally to areas where measles is spreading.

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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