BACKGROUND Mauritius has not had any community acquired SARS-COV-2 case for 6 months and is continuing to maintain control over the disease so far. In this study we discuss how the disease initially spread and use New Zealand, another SARS-COV-2 success story, as the comparator. OBJECTIVE This study aims to explore how the initial wave progressed in Mauritius, by looking at who was most affected, who were most likely to transmit the disease, what were the most effective measures and how the authorities can be best prepared going forward. METHODS Exploratory retrospective analysis of all confirmed cases in Mauritius between 18th March and 30th August 2020. Additionally, a comparative cross-sectional study for confirmed cases between New Zealand and Mauritius. RESULTS There were 355 confirmed cases, 62.0% males, median age = 38 years. The majority (64.8%) were asymptomatic during their infection. New Zealanders in the age-group 10-19 years of age were more prone to infections in contrast to the same age category in Mauritius (P=.006). Contact-tracing was effective in both countries, with 65.3% and 66.3% case detection rates in Mauritius and New Zealand respectively. There were 5 major case clusters in Mauritius and there was an association between delay in notification to authorities and spread from each index case. Health sector workers who were infected, made up of 10.4% of Mauritian cases and 14.3% in New Zealand. The geographical coverage of SARS-COV-2 transmission was 67 percent in Mauritius compared to 45 percent in New Zealand. The test positivity rate was above five percent for only the first three weeks of the outbreak in Mauritius whilst it remained below five percent throughout the outbreak in New Zealand. CONCLUSIONS Mauritius over-achieved in its fight against SARS-COV-2. Application of the lessons learnt will help better face further waves of the pandemic. We outline five recommendations to attain this objective.

The Open University of Mauritius (OUM) pioneered the design and delivery of a MOOC, ‘Sustainable Development in Business’ in 2019, in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), as part of COL’s strategy for “increasing access to learners on environmental awareness”. This MOOC facilitated access to SDG materials to a global audience where participants would learn from each other: challenges, lessons and good practice. There were two intakes in 2020 and 2021 as the world was battling against Covid-19. With more than 13,000 registered participants in the four runs of the MOOC (May 2019, November 2019, June 2020, and April 2021), this highly successful MOOC has been a learning experience for the local team. This paper aims to explore the challenges and lessons learnt at the different stages: conception and design of the MOOC bearing in mind cultural diversity, marketing, managing multidisciplinary teams from different institutions, using the mooKIT platform and using feedback to review the MOOC. Being the first-ever Mauritian-led MOOC with predominantly Mauritian learners, this paper contributes to the literature on the lived experiences of the collaborators in developing and facilitating the MOOC. It is hoped that the lessons learnt will empower other institutions embarking on MOOCs to build impactful MOOCs.