COVID-19 UPDATES – 31 August 2020.
Header Image: “President Cyril Ramaphosa sees off Coronavirus COVID-19 quarantined citizens from The Ranch Resort” by GovernmentZA is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
General:
Refugees and asylum seekers in Southern Africa are bearing the brunt of rising cases of COVID-19 and the re-introduction of restrictions on movements with increasing anti-foreigner sentiments in host countries.
Source: https://southerntimesafrica.com/site/news/covid-19-fuels-xenophobia-in-region
Migrant healthcare workers across Southern Africa are bearing the brunt of psychological and health challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: https://southerntimesafrica.com/site/news/sadc-migrant-workers-bear-brunt-of-covid
Climate and pandemic risks could weigh on agricultural output and farm profitability in the 2020/21 season, and in turn, the livelihoods of those who are directly and indirectly dependent on the sector.
South Africa:
Gender and the early effects of the Covid-19 crisis in the paid and unpaid economies in South Africa
The ‘work-from-home’ culture has reshaped urban geography, particularly in the services sector, as companies abandon office blocks and daily commutes.
Source: https://www.dailymaverickco.za/article/2020-08-25-how-covid-19-changed-the-way-the-world-works/
The worst may be behind us, but don’t go surfing the second wave, warns Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
Provinces across South Africa established field hospitals to cope with the surge of Covid-19 patients but with an excess of beds, some provinces are now dismantling their facilities while others retain them, fearing a surge in infections.
The Covid-19 pandemic have left poor people in need of food, as food security in South Africa has been precarious since 2014.
Source: https://gga.org/as-covid-empties-plates-is-it-time-to-go-big/
Zimbabwe:
Prisons in Bulawayo, once the epicentre of Covid-19 infections in the province when 43 inmates and 23 prison officers tested positive, have scripted a major success story after recording 100 percent recoveries and eliminating new infections.
Zimbabwe: caught between the pandemic and an incapable state
Source: https://gga.org/zimbabwe-caught-between-the-pandemic-and-an-incapable-state/
Malawi:
Malawi and other’s economic response to Covid-19.
Source: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19#M
Malawi has made wearing masks mandatory in public places in an effort to curb a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Source: https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/malawi-makes-masks-mandatory-covid-19-fight
Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera has asked men in Malawi to strictly follow COVID-19 preventive measures.