World Status Report

This report intends to give the UTD Community a snapshot of international risks, and other issues as reported by the linked official sources from the U.S. and other countries.

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

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday “ideologies” posed risks to national security and urged parents, teachers and religious leaders to observe the behaviour of teenagers and report those who break the law to the authorities (Reuters). Regional ministers sent to Eswatini to try to defuse the crisis there after a week of deadly and destructive protests met the government, but left without having properly engaged the opposition (DM). Gunmen have kidnapped 140 students from a boarding school in northwest Nigeria, a school official said on Monday, the latest in a wave of mass abductions targeting schoolchildren and students (MSN). Lebanon is a few days away from a social explosion, caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab warned on Tuesday, calling on the international community to save a country in deep economic crisis (Reuters). With the United States military presence in Afghanistan effectively over, the country faces an uncertain future with Taliban attacks rampant and the threat of civil war looming (IBT). In Myanmar, security forces in the Sagaing region killed at least twenty-five people in a confrontation with opponents of the ruling military junta, according to residents and local media (Reuters).

Natural Disasters

Japan’s authorities announced that twenty-nine people are missing and four have died after heavy rainfall caused a massive mudslide in Shizuoka Prefecture on Saturday (Kyodo).

Health

“People are dying,” warns Jiro Ishimaru of the current situation in North Korea. “People are dying for lack of food and medicine.” AsiaPress editor says North Korea’s current shortage qualifies as ‘the worst humanitarian crisis in Asia’ (AsiaTimes)

COVID-19

International preventative measures against COVID-19, including entry restrictions and in-country mobility remain fluid, and can be imposed without prior notice. Details 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.  The UNWTO and IATA Destination Tracker offers relevant information on a destination status. The Timeline of EU Member States Reopening Their Borders  offers a list of opened EU countries for travelers, and dates of warned opening.

As notable cases: Israel may have to reimpose COVID-19 restrictions this week as the Delta variant drives a rise in new cases (BusinessInsider). Germany should lift all remaining coronavirus-linked social and economic curbs as soon as everyone has been offered a vaccine, foreign minister Heiko Maas was quoted as saying this morning, suggesting that point should be reached next month (Guardian). The organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will restrict attendance at the Games’ opening ceremony to a limited number of VIPs, Japanese media have reported (Guardian). Germany is easing strict restrictions on travel from Britain, Portugal and some other countries that were imposed because of the rise of the more contagious delta virus variant (Guardian). Airlines are reportedly considering resuming service to Argentina after the government decided to limit the number of passengers through international airports to 600 per day (Airways). Bangladesh has extended COVID-19 restrictions to 14 July in an effort to combat a surge in cases led by the Delta variant (Reuters).

UNWTO has released its 10th report on COVID-19 related travel restrictions.  Status of restrictions as of June 1 can be seen in chart.

Global cases and deaths. As of 06 July, Johns Hopkins University counts 184,255,154 COVID-19 cases and 3,986,720 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports 183,700,343 cases and 3,981,756 deaths.

As notable cases: Turkey has identified three cases of the new Delta Plus Covid variant in three provinces (Guardian). Russia reported a record 737 deaths from coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours on Tuesday, pushing the official national death toll to 139,316 (Guardian). UK health secretary suggests cases could get as high as 100,000 a day in summer (Guardian). Fiji sees record level of infections in Delta variant surge. he government has resisted calls for a national lockdown (Guardian). Health officials in Indonesia and Thailand reported record daily highs for new COVID-19 infections, much of it driven by the Delta (B1617.2) variant (CIDRAP). Two new unpublished studies suggest that people who have COVID-19 often spread it to their dogs and cats—particularly if they share a bed with their cats—although the pets usually have no or mild symptoms but in a few cases might have severe disease (CIDRAP). In Bangladesh, hospitals are overwhelmed with Covid patients, particularly in districts bordering India where the Delta variant was first identified (MSN).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 05 July, Our World in Data reports 24.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.3.25 billion doses have been administered globally, and 34.81 million are now administered each day. Only 1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports over 2.98 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:  South Korea is to get 700,000 COVID-19 vaccines doses from Israel (Reuters). Japan to ship millions more COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan, Asian neighbours this week (Reuters). Israel sees drop in Pfizer vaccine protection against infections and symptomatic illness but said it remained highly effective in preventing serious illness (Reuters). COVAX calls on EU countries to equally recognise all COVID-19 vaccines for travel (Schengenvisainfo). The Ivory Coast has started using mobile clinics in an effort to boost its vaccination campaign (Reuters).

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.