At least 98 teachers and 1,800 learners in South Africa’s Covid-19 epicentre province, the Western Cape, have tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus, forcing 20 schools to close. The schools will be disinfected this week. The southern African nation allowed schools to reopen from June 1. Education MEC Debbie Schafer, however, said the cases had not spiked due to the reopening of schools. “Of this number, 1,537 cases were reported before the schools were reopened,” Ms Schafer said. The provincial Education Department had spent R280 million (US$16.3 million) on hygiene supplies. Pupils and teachers were given two masks each, while schools were equipped with digital thermometers, hand sanitiser, liquid soap, and cleaning supplies. Opposition leader Mmusi Maimane, a former Democratic All...
Pupils wearing face masks returned to school in Singapore on Tuesday and some workplaces re-opened as coronavirus restrictions were eased in the hard-hit city-state. Singapore initially kept infections low through a strict regime of testing and contact-tracing, only for major outbreaks to emerge from crowded dormitories housing low-paid foreign workers. The country has recorded over 35,000 cases – the highest official tally in Southeast Asia – with the vast majority among workers from the dorms. The death toll stands at 24. Authorities imposed a partial lockdown in early April, with schools and most workplaces told to close, and people only allowed to leave home for essential purposes. But with new infections slowing and no major outbreaks outside dorms, the government began easing measure...