This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on the insurance industry by studying the case of Ghana from March to June 2020. With a parallel comparison to previous pandemics such as SARS-CoV, H1N1 and MERS, we developed outlines for simulating the impact of the pandemic on the insurance industry. The study used qualitative and quantitative interviews to estimate the impact of the pandemic. Presently, the trend is an economic recession with decreasing profits but increasing claims. Due to the cancellation of travels, events and other economic losses, the Ghanaian insurance industry witnessed a loss currently estimated at GH Ȼ112 million. Our comparison and forecast predicts a normalization of economic indicators from January 2021. In the meantime, while the pandemic persists, insurers should adapt to working from remote locations, train and equip staff to work under social distancing regulations, enhance cybersecurity protocols and simplify claims/premium processing using e-payment channels. It will require the collaboration of the Ghana Ministry of Health, Banking Sector, Police Department, Customs Excise and Preventive Service, other relevant Ministries and the international community to bring the pandemic to a stop.

The Yangtze River Economic Delta (YRED) faces inequality in water use in large proportions due to rapid industrialization. This study adopted the Gini coefficient and Global Moran’s index to calculate inequality, its spatial spread and water use efficiency of cities in the YRED and categorized them into types based on the spatial spread of inequality. In general, inequality is reducing, but water use efficiency is poor. Inequality was rated 0–1; zero being the highest equality while 1 indicates the highest inequality. There is relatively high inequality (0.4–0.5) in Shanghai, Suzhou and Hefei. Most cities (20), however, showed equality (below 0.2). Nine (9) cities showed relative equality (0.2–0.3), while Wuxi, Bengbu and Zhenjiang were neutral (0.3–0.4). No city scored above 0.5. Water use efficiency in the majority of cities was poor. Only 11 out of 35 cities scored more than 50% efficiency. Poor irrigation, income and industrial water demand are the factors driving inefficiency and inequality. The categorization of cities into groups produced nine city types according to the spatial disposition of inequality. A combined effort to formulate policies targeting improved water use efficiency, reduced industrial consumption and improved irrigation, tailored towards the specific situation of each city type, would eliminate inequality.

Set pair analysis is a new intelligent algorithm for dealing with complex uncertain problems, and it is widely used in environmental science because of its concise structure and scalability of results. However, it is still unclear about the development stage distribution of set pair analysis in environmental science and the specific development and application in key areas. Therefore, based on the method of bibliometrics, this paper studies the development, application and challenges of set pair analysis in environmental science over the past 32 years (1989–2020). The analysis found that in terms of time dimension, the development process of set pair analysis is divided into three stages: the initial stage (1989–2011); the rapid development stage (2012–2015); the steady development stage (2016 to present). In terms of specific fields, this article focuses on the development and application of set pair analysis in the three fields of ecology, water resources, and atmospheric environmental science. It is found that set pair analysis is mainly used for environmental assessment, diagnosis and prediction. In particular, the development of partial connection numbers is a new research trend of set pair analysis, which plays an important role in environmental assessment, diagnosis and prediction. However, the current set pair analysis also has the shortcomings of strong subjectivity, an imperfect theoretical system, and unbalanced development at home and abroad. Only when these deficiencies are solved, can the development of set pair analysis in environmental science be further promoted.

The ongoing crisis of COVID-19 pandemic that swept across the world, poses serious challenges on health delivery systems particularly in developing countries. In Africa however, the crisis rather inspires and sparks creativity and innovation at the national, institutional, organizational, and individual levels. This paper unravels Africa’s response mechanisms to the virus that might have relatively contributed to the low infection rate of the pandemic within the continent. Some criteria are adopted to assess and assemble the most influential government policies and home-grown innovations from various African countries and territories within the continent. It is found that, some of the innovations do not only help in combating the virus, but also have socio-economic benefits as they substantially complement government efforts in easing the burden of the citizenry as they cope with preventive protocols imposed on them. This study will be helpful in identifying the most significant home-based innovations that can be improved and used to reduce health delivery crises within the continent even after COVID-19.