Other Security News
COVID-19 Pandemic News

Other Security News

• Islamic State Growing in Afghanistan But Not Ready to Attack US, West VOA 15 Mar 2022 -- More than six months after the U.S. pulled its last troops from Afghanistan, the threat from the Islamic State's Afghan affiliate is growing, though new intelligence assessments suggest that earlier warnings the group might be able to strike at America and its allies as early as next month appear to have been overblown.
• Mitigating Threats Posed by Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Actors' Exploitation of Default Multifactor Authentication Protocol and "PrintNightmare" Vulnerability CISA 15 Mar 2022 -- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a joint cybersecurity advisory today with technical details, mitigations, and resources regarding previously demonstrated ability of Russian state-sponsored cyber actors to gain network access through exploitation of default multifactor authentication (MFA) protocols and a known vulnerability in Windows Print Spooler, "PrintNightmare."
• Major Israeli websites crash in 'largest-ever cyber attack' against them, officials say Press TV 15 Mar 2022 -- A number of major Israeli websites were downed for a while after a major cyber attack targeted them, said officials, alleging that services have since been restored.
• Israel 'Faces Largest-ever Cyberattack' After Alleged Attempt to Sabotage Iranian Nuclear Facility Sputnik 15 Mar 2022 -- Simmering tensions between sworn adversaries Iran and Israel jumped dramatically last week after an Israeli airstrike killed two Revolutionary Guard officers in Syria. Tehran vowed to retaliate, and launched a dozen Fateh ballistic missiles at a 'Mossad base' in Erbil, Iraq Sunday, killing three alleged Israeli operatives and injuring seven others.

COVID-19 Pandemic News

• Weekly operational update on COVID-19 - 15 March 2022
• Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 15 March 2022

United States

• DAF COVID-19 Statistics - March 15, 2022 US Air Force 15 Mar 2022
• Background Press Call by Senior Administration Officials on COVID Response and Funding Needs The White House 15 Mar 2022

China

• China Struggles with New COVID-19 Cases Despite 'Zero COVID' Strategy VOA 15 Mar 2022 -- The number of new COVID-19 cases in China more than doubled Tuesday as the nation struggles with its biggest outbreak of the disease since the start of the pandemic two years ago.
• Chinese mainland's COVID cases soar to 15k since March 1; situation 'grim' but 'controllable' Global Times 15 Mar 2022 -- Northeast China's Jilin Province has become a hotspot of China's COVID-19 battle as the province saw a record local COVID-19 cases of 4,067 on Tuesday, with 3,076 confirmed cases and 991 silent carriers. Local officials said the cases haven't peaked and that Jilin faces a "severe and complicated situation," yet they vowed to clear transmissions in communities within a week.
• China diverts 106 inbound intl flights from Shanghai to 12 cities as the municipality registered record number of new COVID-19 cases Global Times 15 Mar 2022 -- Some inbound international flights to Shanghai will be diverted to another 12 cities in China from March 21 to May 1 in a bid to ease mounting epidemic prevention pressures for the city amid a new outbreak of COVID-19 sparked by imported cases.
• Chinese airports cancel flights to help control spreading of Omicron variant Global Times 15 Mar 2022 -- A number of Chinese airports have started to cancel domestic flights from Monday, in a bid to control the spreading of the coronavirus as a new wave of the Omicron variant hit the country.
• Jilin recorded 4,067 domestic COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, province vowed to cut off community spread within a week Global Times 15 Mar 2022 -- Northeast China's Jilin Province recorded 3,076 domestically transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, 991 silent carriers on Tuesday. Officials said the cases haven't peaked yet and that Jilin faces a "severe and complicated situation," yet he vowed to clear transmission within communities within a week.
• Chief epidemiologist reveals three causes of China's recent surge of COVID-19 Global Times 15 Mar 2022 -- As the recent epidemic outbreak in China continues to worsen with more than 2,000 new COVID-19 infections reported in the Chinese mainland on Monday, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that imported infections, transmission of the Omicron variant and a high proportion of asymptomatic and mild cases are three major causes to the expanded clustered outbreak across the country. Wu also said he is confident that the latest outbreak will be significantly brought under control in the coming weeks if measures are effectively taken.
• Hundreds of mainland health workers to visit and help treat COVID-19 patients in HK Global Times 15 Mar 2022 -- Hundreds of health workers from the Chinese mainland will be coming to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to help treat COVID-19 patients, said Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Monday.
• China guards against strong rebound of COVID-19 People's Daily 15 Mar 2022 -- China is taking swift and thorough measures to contend with its latest wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, as multiple regions in the country have seen surging infections recently.
• Chinese mainland reports 3,507 new local COVID-19 cases People's Daily 15 Mar 2022 -- The Chinese mainland on Monday reported 3,507 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, the National Health Commission said Tuesday.
• China's Jilin reports 895 new local COVID-19 cases People's Daily 15 Mar 2022 -- China's Jilin Province reported 895 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, and 131 asymptomatic carriers on Sunday, the provincial health commission said on Monday.
• China reports sharp rise in COVID cases Press TV 15 Mar 2022 -- China reported 5,280 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, more than double the previous day's tally and the highest daily count since the start of the pandemic.

Russia

• Meeting with Head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency Veronika Skvortsova President of Russia 15 Mar 2022 -- Vladimir Putin had a working meeting with Head of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) Veronika Skvortsova.

India

• India's Active caseload falls to 33,917 today; stands at 0.08% of India's total Positive Cases India PIB 15 Mar 2022 -- In a positive development, India's Active Caseload has declined to 33,917. Active cases now constitute 0.08% of the country's total Positive Cases.
• COVID - 19 Vaccination Update - Day 424 India PIB 15 Mar 2022 -- India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 180.58 Crore (1,80,58,30,502) today. More than 16 lakh (16,54,073) Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. More than 2.14 Crore (2,14,59,117) Precaution Doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries (HCWs, FLWs and Over 60 years) for COVID vaccination have been administered so far. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight.
• Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Availability in States/UTs India PIB 15 Mar 2022 -- The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The nationwide COVID 19 vaccination started on 16th January 2021. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21st June 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.
• COVID-19 UPDATE India PIB 15 Mar 2022
• COVID19 Vaccination for 12-14 yrs cohort to begin from tomorrow, National Vaccination Day, in all States/UTs India PIB 15 Mar 2022 -- Free of cost COVID19 vaccination for all beneficiaries of 12-14 age group will begin from tomorrow (16th March 2022), National Vaccination Day, at all Government COVID Vaccination Centers.

Iran

• COVID-19 kills 117 more Iranians over past 24 hours IRNA 15 Mar 2022 -- The number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in Iran increased to 139,180 with 117 more Iranians killed by the deadly disease over the past 24 hours, Iran's Health Ministry announced on Tuesday.

Taiwan

• Taiwan reports no new domestic COVID-19 cases, 39 imported CNA 15 Mar 2022 -- Taiwan reported no new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases on Tuesday for the second time in March, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
• New round of COVID-19 booster shot reservations to start Wednesday CNA 15 Mar 2022 -- The government's 1922 COVID-19 vaccination booking website will begin accepting appointments Wednesday for booster shots to be administered from March 21-27, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).