Schools reopen in South Africa

Children in South Africa began returning to classrooms on Monday as part of a gradual loosening of restrictions imposed under a months-long COVID-19 lockdown in the continent’s most industrialised nation.
The re-opening of schools had been delayed after teachers’ unions urged school staff to defy the government order last week, saying schools lacked sufficient health and hygiene measures to keep educators and pupils safe.
South Africa has counted nearly 50,000 cases of the new coronavirus – the most of any country in sub-Saharan Africa – along with almost 1,000 deaths.