Why South Africa’s coronavirus outbreak could be a ‘catalyst for transformation’

The three-point line and bleachers are the first signs that Khayelitsha Field Hospital is atypical. Once a community sports hall, there are now roughly 60 hospital beds lining centre court. Jerseys have been swapped for face masks, visors, and green scrubs, which the medical staff wear to tend to COVID-19 patients. The hospital sits in a sprawling patchwork of shacks and low houses on the outskirts of South Africa’s second-largest city. Here, dense living conditions and poor sanitation make handwashing and social distancing difficult. Subsistence incomes mean the lockdown takes an immediate toll on livelihoods....