Rural COVID, Urban COVID: Africa Sees Sharp Divide 

KAMATSAMO, SOUTH AFRICA  - It is hard to see COVID-19 here, in the small village of KaMatsamo. Goats pick their way through a path that runs from the highway, the main thoroughfare in this South African town of some 23,000 people. 

On a recent day, most residents were not diligently wearing masks outdoors, as is the law. About half were.  Africa’s megacities will bear deep scars from this coronavirus pandemic. But 59% of the continent’s population lives in rural areas, according to the World Bank, and large-scale lockdowns have effectively sealed off these rural areas — for better and for worse, residents say.     On a recent fall day, VOA spoke to a group of residents who had gathered by the side of the road in this town just 12 square kilometers in size. Several said they knew of someone who had contracted COVID-19 — but most said that they did not think the virus itself has penetrated their community to the extent that it has urban areas.