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

• A terrorist attack by a Palestinian man outside a synagogue in a Jerusalem neighbourhood on Friday (UN News) left at least seven Israelis dead, and three others injured. According to news reports, the incident happened in the Neve Yaakov district in the middle of the evening local time.
• Blast at mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar targets police, at least 28 killed (Reuters on MSN.com). An explosion inside a mosque killed at least 28 people and wounded 150 more in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday, a government official said, and many of the casualties were police officers who had gathered for noon prayers.
• Unidentified gunmen kidnap 20 workers of Dangote cement factory in Oromia region in Ethiopia, again (Addis Standard). The company has not yet traced both the identity and the whereabouts of the kidnappers. The company has not yet released official statement on the kidnapping.
• Eight killed in mass shooting at birthday party in South Africa (Reuters). Gunmen killed eight people and wounded three others at a birthday party in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, police said, adding that manhunt was underway to find the killers.
• US issues Mexico security alert as Cancun taxi drivers block road, harass Uber cars (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). The U.S. issued an advisory for a popular Mexico tourist destination after medallion taxi drivers started harassing Uber drivers and their clients.
• Another wave of missile attacks across Ukraine was recorded on 26 January (ERCC). Damages were reported in Vinnytsia, Odesa and Kyiv, as well as civilian casualties in Kyiv. Kherson and Sumy oblast were also shelled on 26 January.
• Two French women sentenced in Nicaragua to eight years in jail -rights group (Reuters). A judge in Nicaragua’s capital, Managua, on Thursday sentenced two French citizens to eight years in jail, according to a human rights group, on charges of conspiracy amid a wave of convictions against relatives of jailed or exiled opponents.
• Rights group: leaked El Salvador data confirm abuses (AP News). Human Rights Watch says it has obtained a database leaked from El Salvador’s government that corroborates massive due process violations, severe prison overcrowding and deaths in custody under the emergency powers put in place last March to confront a surge in gang violence.
• UN Special Representative El-Ghassim Wane last briefed the UN Security Council on Mali in October (UN News), reporting on progress in restoring civilian rule in Mali in the wake of the August 2020 military coup, ongoing insecurity and rising humanitarian needs. Since then, the security situation remains “complex”, particularly in the centre of the country and in the tri-border region with Burkina Faso and Niger.

Demonstrations

• Indonesian Muslims protest Quran burning in Sweden (AP News). Hundreds of Indonesian Muslims marched to the heavily guarded Swedish Embassy in the country’s capital on Monday to denounce the recent desecration of Islam’s holy book by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands.
• Protester killed in Peru’s capital, rising crisis toll to 58 (AP News). A protester has been killed in Lima during brutal clashes between police and demonstrators demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte.
• Haiti police block streets, break into airport to protest officer killings (Reuters). Haitian police officers on Thursday blocked streets and forced their way into the country’s main airport to protest the recent killing of officers by armed gangs expanding their grip on the Caribbean nation.

Road safety

• Road Crashes Kill 91 People in Bono East Region in 2022 (Ghana News Agency). Ninety-one people died through 177 road crashes recorded in the Bono East Region in 2022, Mr. Emmanuel Parry Acheampong, the Bono East Regional Head of the National Road Safety Authority has said.
• At least 22 dead in Benin bus crash (Associated Press). At least 22 people were killed and nearly two dozen injured when a public bus crashed into a truck in the center of Benin, the government on Monday.

Natural Disasters

• The humanitarian impact in northern and central Madagascar (ERCC) continues to increase after the island was affected by the passage of tropical cyclone CHENESO on 19-23 January.
• The number of casualties and affected people in Philippines (ERCC) continues to increase following heavy rain and strong winds due to the combined effects of low-pressure area, the northeast monsoon, and the shear line across 14 regions of the Philippines.
• Heavy rainfall affected the Manado City area in norhern-central Indonesia (ERCC) on 27 January, triggering landslides, and causing floods that resulted in casualties and damage.
• Since 27 January, floods caused by heavy rainfall have been reported across northern New Zealand (ERCC), affecting particularly Auckland Region and resulting in casualties. Flood-ravaged Auckland is forecast to receive further heavy rain in the coming days (Reuters), authorities in New Zealand’s largest city said, as insurers counted the costs of what looks likely to be the country’s most expensive weather event ever.

Infrastructure

• Snowfall in Kashmir: Jammu-Srinagar highway closed; flights cancelled at Srinagar airport (Zee Business on MSN.com). In India, the Jammu-Srinagar highway has been closed due to shooting stones and mudslides at a number of places in Ramban-Banihal stretch of the road.

Traveler mobility

• South Korea extends restrictions on travelers from China (ABC). South Korea says it will continue to restrict the entry of short-term travelers from China through the end of February over concerns that the spread of COVID-19 in that country may worsen following the Lunar New Year’s holidays.

Health

• Mumbai’s Pollution Levels Skyrocket (Bloomberg L.P.). The financial hub’s Air Quality Index readings, which chart the concentrations of deadly particles, have regularly breached unsafe and hazardous levels, now overtaking readings in New Delhi.
• Worldwide and in the year 2022 (ECDC), 383 357 cases of chikungunya virus disease and 76 related deaths, as well as 4 110 465 cases of dengue and 4 099 related deaths have been reported.
• On 12 October 2022 (ECDC), the Polio Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) stated that the risk of the international spread of poliovirus still remains a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
• The World Health Organization said that COVID-19 continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern (Reuters), its highest form of alert. “We remain hopeful that in the coming year, the world will transition to a new phase in which we reduce (COVID) hospitalisations and deaths to their lowest possible level,” Tedros told a separate WHO meeting on Monday.

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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