ARTICLE · 03 FEBRUARY 2021

COVID-19 and the global shift towards authoritarian governance

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Recent academic papers express concern that restrictive measures introduced to control the virus may not be cancelled.

AustraliaGovernment, Public Sector

Despite recurring lockdowns globally, COVID-19 continues to plague the planet. The pandemic toll on 29 January 2021 stands at 101 million cases worldwide, 56 million recoveries, and 2.19 million deaths as a result of the virus.

On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organisation announced a pneumonia of unknown kind had been detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. While on 11 March last year, the WHO declared that the outbreak of highly contagious COVID-19 had become a global pandemic.

This crisis has led to mass unemployment and economic downturn, resulting from governments enforcing restrictions to curb transmission. And while human rights treaties permit the emergency limiting of certain freedoms, a recent paper warns that the COVID-19 response has surpassed this.

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