Across Asia-Pacific and Europe, Covid-19 has thrown up another risk – an addiction to lockdowns

During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, authorities around the world asked people to put their lives on hold for a period of days or weeks to “flatten the curve” and save lives.More than a year into the global crisis, governments continue to enforce lockdowns and other restrictions in response to Covid-19, while sluggish vaccine roll-outs cloud expectations for a swift return to normal. For public health and civil liberties experts, the normalisation of extraordinary pandemic…