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 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

• Syria. Progress towards resolving Syria’s decade-long conflict has reached an impasse, the chief United Nations mediator told the Security Council on Tuesday, as an uptick in fighting throughout the country led to some of the largest civilian displacements in a year (UN News).
• Nicaragua. Authorities formally accused Carlos Chamorro, a prominent journalist and critic of President Daniel Ortega’s government, with money laundering. It was the latest charge in Ortega’s broad crackdown on the press and opposition (Reuters).

Natural Disasters

• Venezuela. Heavy rain has been affecting several States of Venezuela over the past few days, causing rivers to overflow and floods, triggering landslides and resulting in casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Indonesia. Widespread floods triggered by heavy rain continue to affect several parts of Indonesia over the past few days, leading to casualties and damage (ERCC).
• Thailand. On 24 August, heavy rain caused floods across Pong District (Phayao Province, northern Thailand). Up to 550 people have been affected and 110 houses were damaged or destroyed (ERCC).
• Benin. In recent days, floods caused by heavy rain were reported across southern Benin, resulting in casualties (ERCC).

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.

As notable cases:

• Trinidad and Tobago. The Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) says all airlines which operated out of the Piarco and ANR Robinson airports before the closure of TT’s borders in March 2020 have returned. Most airlines have provided winter schedules and should resume operations between September and November. AATT’s corporate told Newsday.

Global cases and deaths. As of 25 August, Johns Hopkins University counts 213,396,756 COVID-19 cases and 4,456,252 deaths, and the WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 24 August 212,357,898 cases and 4,439,843 deaths.

As notable cases:

• Japan. Five people residing at a housing complex reserved for Paralympic athletes, coaches and committee officials tested positive for the new coronavirus in Japan, event officials announced Wednesday, just a day after the formal commencement of the Games (WaPo). Japan is set to expand a state of emergency to eight more prefectures, bringing the total to 21, the minister in charge of coronavirus countermeasures said today (Reuters).
• Australia. Sydney’s COVID-19 infections hit a daily record on Wednesday, putting parts of the health system under pressure, officials said, calling for vaccinations to be stepped up to stem the tide of hospital admissions (Reuters).
• Mexico. An additional 18,262 confirmed coronavirus cases were added to Mexico’s accumulated case tally on Tuesday, while the COVID-19 death toll rose by 940. There have now been just under 3.25 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic (MND).
• World. With over 4.5 million new cases reported this week (16-22 August), the number of new cases reported globally seems to be plateauing after increasing for nearly two months (since mid-June). The Regions of the Americas and Western Pacific reported an increase in new cases in the past week, 8% and 20% respectively. Globally, the number of deaths reported this week remained similar to last week, with over 68 000 new deaths reported. Two Regions, Europe and the Americas, reported an increase in new deaths, 11% and 10% respectively. As of the 22 August, the cumulative number of cases reported globally is now over 211 million and the cumulative number of deaths is just over 4.4 million (WHO).
• Italy reported 60 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, compared with 44 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to6,076 from 4,168 (Reuters)

Vaccination campaigns around the world continue. As of 24 August, Our World in Data reports 32.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 24.8% is fully vaccinated. 5.04 billion doses have been administered globally, and 33.68 million are now administered each day. Only 1.4% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose. The WHO COVID-19 dashboard reports as of 23 August over 4.61 billion administered vaccine doses.

As notable cases:

• Thailand. Scientists in Thailand have developed a machine to maximize supplies of coronavirus vaccine by extracting doses more efficiently, as cases continue to rise in the country (WaPo).
• Brazil will give booster shots of a COVID-19 vaccine to immunosuppressed or vulnerable people and citizens over the age of 80, beginning on Sept. 15 (Reuters).
• India will supply millions of additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to its states to try to inoculate all school teachers by early next month, the health minister said on Wednesday, as the country gradually resumes physical classes (Reuters).
• United States. New US data shows an increase in ‘breakthrough’ infections among fully vaccinated individuals. However, the vaccine did protect against severe illness in almost all cases (Reuters). The US will donate 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Viet Nam (Reuters), and has also shipped just over 3 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Pakistan yesterday via COVAX (Reuters).
• Indonesia has granted emergency use approval to Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine (Reuters).
• Europe. The European Medicines Agency has approved additional manufacturing sites for mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna in an effort to boost production (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.