IM COVID-19 Impact On Points Of Entry Bi-Weekly Analysis (18 August 2021)

Executive summary

The current COVID-19 pandemic has affected global mobility both in terms of international mobility restrictions and restrictive measures on internal movement. To better understand how COVID-19 affects global mobility, IOM has developed a global mobility database to gather, map and track data on these restrictive measures impacting movement. The information in this report relies on a compilation of inputs from multiple sources, including from IOM staff in the field, DTM reports on flow monitoring and mobility tracking.

Points of Entry (PoEs):

• As of 12 August 2021, a total of 4,456 PoEs were assessed in 183 C/T/As: 1,148 (26%) airports, 2,580 (58%) land border crossing points and 728 (16%) blue border crossing points.

• Overall, 14 per cent of the assessed PoEs were fully closed (a 2 p.p. decrease compared to the previous reporting period), 26 per cent partially operational and 52 per cent fully operational (a 1 p.p. increase in both cases compared to the previous reporting period), however the operational status of PoEs varied across IOM Regions and PoE types:

• The IOM Region with the highest share of fully closed PoEs was West and Central Africa (39%, i.e. a 1 p.p. decrease compared to the previous reporting period), followed by Middle East and North Africa (21%, i.e. no change compared to the previous reporting period);

• The European Economic Area remained the IOM Region with the highest percentage of fully operational PoEs (84%, a decrease of 3 p.p. compared to the previous reporting period), followed by East and Horn of Africa (71%, a 13 p.p. increase compared to the previous reporting period), South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (58%, a 2 p.p. increase on a fortnightly basis), and Middle East and North Africa (57%; i.e. a 3 p.p. increase compared to the previous report);

• About 19 per cent of the assessed land border crossing points, globally, were fully closed. For airports and blue border crossing points this was reported as 8 and 7 per cent, respectively, with a slight decrease recorded across all PoE types compared to the previous reporting period;

• The share of fully operational locations slightly decreased for airports (72%, a 1 p.p. decrease compared to the previous reporting period), while it increased for blue border crossing points (54%, i.e. a 2 p.p. increase compared to the previous reporting period) and land border crossings points (43%, i.e. a 1 p.p. increase compared to the previous reporting period).

Source: International Organization for Migration