The challenges of informal settlements have once again been thrown into the spotlight in the midst of the current pandemic. Research has shown that some of the most at-risk populations and therefore the potential hotspots of COVID-19 are in informal settlements where density is above the threshold needed for social distancing.
The consequences of this have already become apparent. In the Western Cape province of South Africa, informal settlements continue to exceed residential suburbs in the number of COVID-19 cases. Nearly 12% of the province's infections are in Cape Town's largest low-income settlement of Khayelitsha, even though it is home to just 6% of the population.
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