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

• Mali. Five gendarmes were killed and four were injured when a convoy they were escorting to an Australian-owned gold mine in southern Mali came under attack by militants, the army said (Reuters).
• Egypt. A graduate student at the University of Bologna, has been held for 19 months since being arrested on a trip home from Italy and accused of spreading false information, over an article he wrote about the plight of Egypt’s Christians (Reuters).
• Nigeria. The Nigerian Air Force fired upon and killed dozens of civilians at a village in the northeast, a victim and a resident said on Tuesday, as the country wages a 12-year war against Islamist insurgencies (Reuters).
• Afghanistan. Fears are growing for a photojournalist who has been detained by the Taliban for more than three weeks after being arrested while covering the women’s protests in Herat (Guardian).

Natural Disasters

• India. On 27-28 September, heavy rain and lightning were reported across northern and central India, resulting in casualties, displacement, and damage (ERCC).
• Guatemala. Heavy rain and strong winds have been affecting most of the country since the beginning of the rainy season (mid-April) causing floods, landslides, mudflows and a number of severe weather-related incidents that have resulted in casualties and widespread damage (ERCC).
• Colombia. Flooding caused by the overflow of the Combeima river in Ibagué City (central Colombia) since 22 September, resulted in displacement and damage (ERCC).
• Canary Islands. On the late evening of 28 September, the lava reached the sea north of Los Guirres beach in the Municipality of Tazacorte, cutting off a coastal road, and damaging fertilizer storages resulting in toxic emissions. The air traffic in the area is allowed, the airport of La Palma is open, however several flights arriving/departing to/from the island have been cancelled (ERCC).

Health

• Ethiopia. United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday he assumes famine has taken hold in Ethiopia’s Tigray where a nearly three-month long “de-facto blockade” has restricted aid deliveries to 10% of what is needed in the war-torn region (Reuters).

Of note

• United Kingdom. British soldiers will start driving tankers to replenish empty pumps, as drivers queued again for fuel after days of shortages (Reuters).
• China on Wednesday demanded railway companies and local authorities raise their game in shipping vital coal supplies to utilities, as regions key to the world’s no. 2 economy grapple with power cuts that have crippled industrial output (Reuters). Metal consumers in China, from appliance makers to auto, construction and solar panel firms, are readying themselves to face potential supply shocks after power curbs and shortages forced several smelters to cut production in recent weeks (Reuters).
• Europe. The surge in natural gas prices is also due to a massive supply shortage in Europe, a situation that is quickly spilling over into other countries and other markets—including the coal and oil markets as demand for power exceeds supply (Oil Price).

COVID-19

International preventative measures against COVID-19, including entry restrictions and in-country mobility remain fluid, and can be imposed without prior notice.  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. The University Vaccine Requirement Checker notes universities that require a COVID-19 Vaccine.

As notable cases:

• Italy. Italians will be allowed to travel to the Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius, Egypt (but only Sharm El Sheikh and Marsa Alam), Dominican Republic and Aruba without the need for quarantine as a COVID-19 precaution either on arrival or return, on what the ministry called controlled tourist itineraries (Reuters).
• France plans to extend the country’s Covid health pass requirement until next summer, the government’s spokesman has said (Guardian).
• Spain lifts restrictions to allow 100% capacity in outdoor venues (Guardian).

Global cases and deaths. As of 29 September, Johns Hopkins University counts 232,909,046 COVID-19 cases and 4,768,139 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 28 September 232,075,351 cases and 4,752,988 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Scotland. The number of Covid fatalities recorded in Scotland hit the highest level since February last week, with 165 deaths registered that involved Covid-19, 30 more than the previous week (Guardian).
• Lithuania reports 1,847 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the country’s statistics office has said – the highest number of cases since early January (Guardian).
• Latvia has reported 1,203 new coronavirus cases – the country’s highest daily figure since February. It is the first time infections have crossed the threshold of 1,000 since May (Guardian).
• New Zealand’s daily Covid cases have jumped sharply to 45 – more than five times the previous day’s number. The rise comes after several days of about 12 cases a day, and around a week after the Auckland region lifted its strictest lockdown restrictions (Guardian).
• World. Globally, the numbers of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to decline. Over 3.3 million new cases and over 55 000 new deaths were reported during the week of 20 – 26 September 2021, decreases of 10% as compared to the previous week for both cases and deaths. The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported from the Eastern Mediterranean Region (17%), followed by the Western Pacific Region (15%), the Region of the Americas (14%), the African Region (12%) and the South-East Asia Region (10%); while weekly cases in the European Region were similar to the previous week. The cumulative number of confirmed cases reported globally is now over 231 million and the cumulative number of deaths is more than 4.7 million (WHO).

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 28 September, Our World in Data reports 44.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 6.2 billion doses have been administered globally, and 26.02 million are now administered each day. Only 2.3% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 27 September over 5.92 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Algeria will start production of COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac in partnership with China on Wednesday with the aim of meeting domestic demand and exporting the surplus, the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday (Reuters).
• Costa Rica said on Tuesday all state workers will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19, making it one of the first countries in Latin America to impose a coronavirus vaccination mandate (Reuters).
• Slovenia has temporarily suspended use of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine while it investigates the death of a 20-year-old woman (Guardian).
• Zimbabwe is now requiring its half a million government employees to have the jab. The Associated Press reports that the strategy is worrying human rights groups as vaccination centres sometimes run out of supply, and poor urban townships and rural areas have often been starved of doses in recent months (Guardian).
• United States. Pfizer have submitted initial trial data for their COVID-19 vaccine for use in 5 to 11 year olds and said they would make a formal request to U.S. regulators for emergency use in the coming weeks (Guardian).
• Mexico. Almost 99.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in Mexico, according to the most recent federal Health Ministry data (MND)

Impact

• Long-Covid. Research out today from Oxford University states that 37% of people had at least one long-Covid symptom diagnosed in the three- to six-month period after Covid-19 infection. The most common symptoms were breathing problems, abdominal symptoms, fatigue, pain and anxiety/depression (Guardian).
• Vietnam. The strict and ongoing lockdown in Vietnam is causing shortages among big brands, including Apple’s iphone 13 and Nike and Gap products, some of whom may start looking at temporarily produce elsewhere (Guardian).

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.