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Coronavirus: Ending the lockdowns

How should policymakers balance protecting the health and wealth of citizens?

Billions of people across the globe are currently under some form of government-mandated lockdown. The aim is to curb the spread of the coronavirus and prevent health systems from being overrun. But forcing people to stay at home for weeks or months on end is resulting in unprecedented economic shocks to societies around the world. With unemployment figures accelerating, so too is the debate about how and when to end the lockdowns. Several reports have concluded that social distancing measures can only be withdrawn completely once a vaccine against Covid-19 has been developed and deployed. So, until then how do policymakers balance protecting the health and wealth of citizens? Paul Henley and a panel of expert guests discuss the practicalities of getting people back to work before a vaccine arrives. Widespread electronic tracing of our movements is key to restoring our freedoms, but can that testing capacity be met and will people balk at having their movements tracked? And, in this strange new world, which parts of society will be the first to return to some semblance of normality, which might follow, and which will be transformed beyond recognition?

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Sat 18 Apr 2020 15:06GMT

Contributors

Martin McKee聽- Professor of European Public Health at The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Zeke Emanuel - Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania

Benjamin Cowling - Head of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Hong Kong University

Emma Frans聽-聽 Department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

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Photo

A Nepalese woman looks outside from the balcony at a residential compound during the twentieth day of lockdown in Kathmandu, Nepal by Saroj Baizu/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Broadcasts

  • Fri 17 Apr 2020 09:06GMT
  • Fri 17 Apr 2020 23:06GMT
  • Sat 18 Apr 2020 03:06GMT
  • Sat 18 Apr 2020 15:06GMT

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