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This paper examines the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the existing health inequalities disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. It explores the impact of COVID-19 pandemic response measures to "curb the spread" on informal sector workers in Ghana. In Ghana, like many other developing countries, the informal sector was impacted by a higher risk of exposure to the COVID-19 infection and the slew of pandemic response measures, for example, lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, as well as guidelines around social distancing implemented by their governments. Given the high level of precarity that undergirds work in the informal sector and the intersectional forces that contribute to and maintain their marginality—class, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and geographic location—this paper creates a space for dialogue about the unintended consequences of pandemic response measures on the livelihood security of informal sector workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the subject of numerous scholarly discussions. However, scholars have yet to pay more attention to the link between its official containment measures and the struggle of informal workers for sustainable livelihoods in Nigeria. This study argues that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown policing was one aspect of the state-society encounter that had a deleterious effect on the economic security of vulnerable populations. The research employs the thesis of neoliberalism and a qualitative-dominant mixed methods approach to explore this state-society encounter during the pandemic. It concludes that a subtle and humane approach to policing in emergencies presents a more civil engagement in policy enforcement that would foster happier encounters between security forces and the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown regulations caused enormous changes in all business sectors because many businesses were not allowed to operate. Only a few were regarded as essential businesses, such as pharmacies and grocery shops, and allowed to operate. Lockdown regulations negatively affected the South African informal sector. As a result, it is difficult to provide accurate statistics on the entrepreneurs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are no official statistics from the informal sector. This paper aims to examine how the informal sector was affected by the lockdown down restrictions within South Africa. The paper adopts a systematic review methodology using Google Scholar and Web of Science or Scopes to search for articles on informal entrepreneurship, COVID-19, and South Africa to draw a conclusion from the analysed data. The findings indicated that most of the businesses in the informal sector were negatively affected, including workers because some of them lost their jobs and others did not receive their usual salaries due to limited working hours. There were disruptions in the supply chain and pricing of goods and services, and people could not have sustained their income during the lockdown in South Africa. In conclusion, the informal sector is one of the most vulnerable sectors that lacks access to appropriate risk management structures, and most people live on a hand to mouth basis. COVID-19 has negatively affected the informal sector, mainly through distribution and marketing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The informal sector in Zimbabwe employs more than 80 per cent of the population, whose livelihood strategies are under severe threat because of the COVID‐19 lockdown. This paper examines the effects of the lockdown on the informal sector in Gweru. Anchored within the legalist theory of informality, the paper analyses the response of government to the plight of the informal sector in Zimbabwe. A qualitative research design was applied and convenience sampling implemented to select 30 individuals whose livelihood depended on informal cross‐border trade, informal transport, forex trading, hairdressing, and street vending. Results reveal that despite many involved in the informal sector having lost their means of survival during the COVID‐19 lockdown, the government introduced additional restrictions on this sector, thus almost destroying it. In the absence of government assistance, many have adapted their operations, albeit through illegal activities. The study offers recommendations that may ensure the survival of the informal sector beyond the COVID‐19 pandemic. This is important, given that the informal sector is the largest contributor to household income and food security in Zimbabwe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the nation-wide covid-19 lockdown was implemented, a large number of workers who were engaged in beedi work (tobacco manufacturing industry) lost their daily wage work. These people had migrated to metro cities almost ten years ago for their livelihood, working in this perilous industry. Soon thereafter, though, they felt that they had no choice but return to the hazardous beedi work. This narrative tells the story of the formation and development of a small group that aimed to provide relief for the beedi laborers and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Form Wuhan city of China, Coronavirus has reached every corner of the world. India is also struggling to protect its population from it. The Government of India declared nationwide lock down initially for a period of twenty-one days and then it was extended. During the period of lock down all activities like educational, cultural, religious and economical were restricted. Therefore, present paper highlights the various problems informal workers faced during this period. The paper focuses on the informal sector because in India nearly 92 per cent of the workforce works in the informal sector. The data gathered revealed that during the period of lockdown, informal workers faced various problems like lack of support from government in the form of social security, job loss, food scarcity, lack of sanitizers and problem of migration from one place to another. It is suggested that the government should support informal workers in order to compensate the loss caused due to lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenza pandemics of Covid-19 in nature are not a new phenomenon in the world today. Amongst many that affected many parts of the world, the Spanish flue of 1918-1919 was more devastating and is argued to have similar characteristics with Covid -19 outbreak in 2020. The study sought to critically examine how urban communities which already had levels of fragility were affected and responded to the Covid -19. Deploying an ethnographic approach in the high density suburbs of Harare, guided by Giddens theory of structuration and agency, we argue that due to the already existing level of fragility characterised by high poverty levels, overcrowded accommodation and other fragile systems, Covid-19 lockdown measures worsened the state of communities. Whilst residence of the low density suburbs responded differently to the lockdown, the high density suburbs were characterised by scrambling for water at communal water points, daily queuing for basic food thereby exposing themselves to infections and conflict with law enforcement agents. The paper argues that with the dominance of the informal economy as a source of livelihoods, the lockdown measures compromised not only people's livelihoods but the generic socio-political and economic frameworks. Thus the study concluded that Covid-19 lockdown measures were unbearable and unsustainable such that they forced people to deploy various strategies of survival as 'agency', hence, the lockdown pushed the urban poor into the margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the world in an unprecedented way. Understanding the response of the Zimbabwean government to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected the informal sector economy is important. This study fills the research void on how various interventions by the government have impacted the informal sector. It demonstrates that the livelihoods supported by the informal sector have been negatively affected by the lockdown measures as well as curfews. Farm-produce vendors, entrepreneurs, secondhand clothes importers, taxi operators, barbers and hair salons were classified as non-essential services and had to observe lockdown restrictions. The study observes that these groups were significantly disrupted by the government's response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Using a qualitative approach, the article reflects on the livelihood experiences of those dependent on this sector during this era by assessing measures that have been introduced to contain the epidemic. Using primary evidence from print and electronic media, the article corroborates the narratives shared in public forums with unobtrusive observations to report on the complex nature of fighting the pandemic in Zimbabwe's informal sector. An in-depth document analysis as well as evidence from print and electronic media adds to the existing literature on the government's informal sector policy response to pandemics. It gives an evaluation of the strategies implemented and how the people in the informal sector respond to such policy initiatives. This study explores the experiences of people engaged in informal projects in their quest for socio-economic empowerment given the coronavirus challenge and restrictive measures implemented by the government to curtail the spread of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lockdown as a result of COVID19 pandemic that demands 'social distancing' has impacted employment and income, health and sanitation, education of children and safety of women in the organised informal sector enormously. Contribution of women in the informal sector of the Indian Economy is both as lowly paid wage workers as well as unpaid family workers. Due to nature of livelihood, housing and living condition and lack of purchasing power, it is impossible for them to the official advisories. The workers (both men and women) living in rented rooms, street vendors, domestic workers, home-based workers, construction workers in the urban, peri urban and rural areas, tobacco workers, agricultural labourers, artisans, tailors, door to door moving financial/banking agents, dabbawallas/ tiffin services, industrial workers in manufacturing units, courier men, weavers, animal carers, vegetable-fruit-cloth vendors, recycling workers and waste pickers, sanitary workers, hospitality staff, factory workers, auto rickshaw and taxi drivers, auxiliary nurses-midwives-ward boys, daily wage labourer, petty shop owners are facing near starvation conditions. Nearly 60% of them are migrant workers with hardly any support system in the neo-liberal cities governed by the gated communities and decision makers. It is demand of the day to establish market linkages for production units and social enterprises to stitch and distribute masks to the informal sector workers, to produce cost sanitisers and hand wash, launch awareness campaigns- videos, voice messages, WhatsApp forwards that provide social solidarity in the midst of physical distancing. The state needs to ensure timely access to cash through banking and long-term continuation of relief help, community kitchens and free testing facilities for the workers who are the backbone of the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]