Social Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the School Closings in Five Southern Africa Countries: Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China in January 2020 and its global spread during February and March, many governments took far-reaching measures to control it in their countries. One of the first measures to reduce the outbreak of COVID-19 was banning group gatherings of over 500 and later 50 people. Surprisingly many countries also decided very fast to close all their educational institutions for some weeks or months as one of the early provisions. UNESCO reported that more than one billion children globally are currently out of school, which is 80% of all enrolled pupils. Many universities and schools still try to use online learning tools to enable some kind of learning and teaching. Countries like Ukraine broadcast some learning materials through TV, while others like South Africa designated new specific TV channels entirely for educational purposes to reach more children. Two questions, especially for countries of the Global South, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa, are: how vulnerable and rural or non-dominant language children are affected by school closures and what languages are being used for online or TV materials to reach children in Sub-Saharan African countries? The possibility is high that the already existing educational gap between the better-off and the disadvantaged communities globally and within each country further spreads. This paper analyses some online materials used for pupils as well as TV and social media platforms in selected countries of Southern and Eastern Africa. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Virological, epidemiological features and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant: a review

The emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) has been a cause for serious concern worldwide due to its high rate of transmission and number of mutations. During genomic studies in South Africa and Botswana in November 2021, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 was identified associated with a rapid resurgence of infections in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Omicron variant was identified as a type of concern by the World Health Organization after sequence uploads of the first genome. It was subsequently identified in 87 countries within three weeks. The Omicron variant is a very exceptional virus carrying more than 30 mutations in the spike glycoprotein that are predicted to affect antibody neutralization and spike function. Omicron is highly contagious and spreads faster than previous variants, but may cause less severe symptoms than previous variants. Omicron variant can evade the immune system. It can also evade the vaccine responses developed against COVID-19. Rapid and careful preventive steps, including vaccination, will always be a key for suppression of the Omicron variant. This review summarizes the highly mutated regions, core infectiousness, vaccine elimination, and antibody resistance of the Omicron variant of SARSCoV-2.

Issues of gender in sport leadership: reflections from Sub-Saharan Africa

Globally, a gender gap in sport leadership exists despite global reforms, leadership and key strategic actions. This paper reports on the leadership dimension of the 2021 follow-up study to the 2014 baseline study on gender leadership and participation in sport within southern Africa. It reports on changes over time in selected sports (athletics, basketball, boxing, football, and judo as recorded in the 2014 study, with the addition of netball in the 2021 research) and within five countries (Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). A purposively selected sample group completed an online survey (N = 41), followed by structured interviews conducted with 45 decision makers from relevant government entities and national sport organisations. Findings indicate that Covid-19 had little effect on leadership composition across organisational types. Government entities spearheaded ‘gender reform' with 47.7% female representation at the executive level. National Olympic Committees had 24.1% women in leadership and national sport federations 27.7% with the latter showing an increase of 6.7% since 2014. Men dominated in sub-committees (62.2%) and emerged as leaders in netball – a sport featuring 98% female participation. Key recommendations address the gender gap in sport leadership from the regional level.