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

• “Intense” Israeli bombardment in Gaza continued on Monday along with rocket fire into Israel by Palestinian armed groups as UN humanitarians reported that more than 25,000 have died in the enclave since war began on 7 October.
• Vietnam court sentences 9 people to death for drug trafficking (Reuters). A court in Vietnam on Monday sentenced nine people to death after being convicted of involvement in one of the country’s largest drug trafficking cases in months, state media reported. Vietnam has among the world’s toughest narcotics laws, where anyone found guilty of trafficking 100 grams or more of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, or amphetamine face the death penalty.
• Deadly blast hits market in Russia-held Ukraine city, officials say (BBC News). At least 27 people have been killed in a shelling attack in the Russian-held city of Donetsk, the Moscow-installed leader of the region says.
• Ecuador Faces a Tangled Web in Its War on Gangs (Insight Crime). Ecuador’s numerous gangs boast significant territorial presence and a diversity of funding streams that will pose a formidable challenge to the country’s weak institutions in what will likely be a drawn-out conflict between organized crime and the state.
• An Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital killed at least 5 Iranian advisers, officials say (AP News). An Israeli strike on the Syrian capital on Saturday destroyed a building used by the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, killing at least five Iranians, Syrian and Iranian state media reported.
• Gangs in Haiti have attacked a community for 4 days and residents fear the violence could spread (AP News). Gang members have raided a key community in Haiti’s capital that is home to numerous police officers and has been under siege for four days in an ongoing attack, with residents fearful of the violence spreading throughout Port-au-Prince.

Demonstrations

• French protesters ask Macron not to sign off on an immigration law with a far-right footprint (Associated Press). Tens of thousands of people marched in the streets of cities across France on Sunday to call on President Emmanuel Macron not to sign into law tough new legislation on immigration that they say bears the footprint of the far right and betrays French values
• Germany sees second day of large protests against far right (Deutsche Welle). An estimated 1.4 million people in Germany demonstrated against the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) from Friday to Sunday, according to the organizers of the events. The protests reflect a growing concern over right-wing politics in the country.
• Germany’s train drivers call for a six-day nationwide strike (Deutsche Welle). The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) is planning a strike that will last almost a week, starting in the early hours of Wednesday. The union said it rejected Deutsche Bahn’s latest “allegedly improved” offer.

Infrastructure

• Syria – Military escalation in the Northeast, update (ERCC). The escalation of hostilities in Northeast Syria (NES) resulted in the interruption of fuel production and distribution. Most power and transfer stations have been targeted and are out of service by now. The Alouk Water Station is completely cut off from the grid, and over 1 million people in eleven cities, 2,750 villages, and 1,900 schools are without electricity.
• Germany’s chemicals sector, Europe’s largest, is starting to feel the pinch from delayed shipments via the Red Sea (Reuters), becoming the latest industry to warn of supply disruptions that have forced some companies to curb production.

Environment

• USA – Severe weather, update (ERCC). Severe weather, including heavy rainfall and snowstorms, is still affecting central and eastern USA since 9 January, causing several severe weather-related incidents, the number of casualties and damage is increasing.
• China – Landslide (ERCC). A landslide occurred on 22 January at 5.51 local time (21.51 UTC) hitting two villages in Zhaotong City, in the northeastern Yunnan Province, southern China, resulting in casualties and damage.
• Brazil – Severe weather (ERCC). Heavy rainfall, strong winds and thunderstorms have been affecting south-eastern Brazil (in particular the Sao Paulo State) since 19 January, causing a number of severe weather-related incidents (particularly due to lightning), floods, flash floods and triggering landslides that have resulted in casualties and damage.
• Syria – Floods (ERCC). Over the past few days, heavy rainfall caused flooding in several parts of Northwest Syria, with inundated IDP sites and cities.
• Malawi – Floods (ERCC). Heavy rainfall has been affecting most parts of Malawi, causing floods, and resulting in casualties and damage. 
• Australia sweats in heatwave, lifting bushfire risk amid El Nino (Reuters). Large swaths of Australia sweltered again on Sunday through a widening heatwave, which the national weather forecaster said raised the bushfire risk in an already high-risk fire season as the country endures an El Nino weather pattern.
• Indonesia’s Mount Merapi unleashes lava as other volcanoes flare up, forcing thousands to evacuate (AP News. Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupted Sunday, spreading searing gas clouds and avalanches of lava down its slopes as other active volcanoes flared up across the country, forcing the evacuation of thousands.

Health

• Avian influenza A(H5N6) – Multi-country – Monitoring human cases (ECDC). A new case of avian influenza A(H5N6) virus infection in a 59-year-old woman was reported in Sichuan province, China, with date of onset on 25 November 2023. The patient had been to a live poultry market prior to disease onset.
• SARS-CoV-2 variant classification (ECDC). ECDC classified BA.2.86 as a variant of interest (VOI) on 24 November 2023. As of 19 January 2024, BA.2.86 is the dominating lineage in EU/EEA countries. A large proportion of the BA.2.86 sequences belong to the sub-lineage JN.1. As of 19 December 2023, due to its rapid increase in proportion, WHO classified JN.1 as a separate VOI from the parent lineage BA.2.86. The most likely driver of the success of BA.2.86-descendant lineages is immune escape in a population where immunity is increasingly derived from XBB-variants.
• Mpox – Multi-country 2022–2024 (ECDC). Since the beginning of October 2023 (previous update), and as of 12 January 2024, 353 mpox cases have been reported from 14 EU/EEA countries: Spain (128), Portugal (73), Germany (72), Italy (26), France (13), the Netherlands (12), Austria (8), Belgium (6), Ireland (5), Norway (3), Sweden (3), Hungary (2), Greece (1), and Luxembourg (1). An increase in the number of mpox cases has been observed since July 2023, with cases primarily observed among men who have sex with men (MSM).
• Increase in number of measles cases – United Kingdom – 2023/2024 (ECDC). In mid-January 2024, reports quoting preliminary UKHSA figures suggested that over 170 measles cases were diagnosed in the West Midlands region of England between December 2023 and mid-January 2024.
• Respiratory Virus Data Channel Weekly Snapshot (CDC). The amount of respiratory illness (fever plus cough or sore throat) causing people to seek healthcare is elevated or increasing across most areas of the United States. CDC’s Respiratory Virus Data Channel provides a summary of the key viral respiratory illness findings for COVID-19, flu, and RSV. CDC continues to anticipate this fall and winter respiratory illness season will likely result in a similar number of hospitalizations as last season. Vaccination remains the best way to protect yourself against serious outcomes of COVID-19, flu, and RSV (if eligible for RSV vaccine). 
• ‘Deadliest outbreak ever seen’: climate crisis fuels Bangladesh’s worst dengue epidemic (The Guardian). Mosquito-borne disease once largely limited to Dhaka spreads countrywide as higher rainfall and heat lead to fivefold rise in cases in a year, with children the hardest hit

Humanitarian

• Madagascar – Food insecurity (ERCC). In the current period from October 2023 – January 2024, 1.31 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity – IPC Phase 3 or above Crisis level –  on the Acute Food Insecurity (AFI) classification, with 43,000 people in IPC Phase 4, Emergency level in the Grand Sud and the Grand Sud-Est, and nearly 459,000 children under 5 facing/expected to face elevated levels of acute malnutrition. 

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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