AFRICA’S GOVERNANCE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 | PRELIMINARY REPORT 2020 Democracy, Freedoms and Emergency Measures and Taiwan have not imposed any lockdown. There is strong evidence to suggest that despite their continued openness, their results have been as good and, in some cases, better than those of countries on lockdown. And these countries have achieved these results without having to endure the huge socio-economic cost being experienced across the world. As pertinent governance questions arise regarding the balance between human freedoms and public health and safety concerns in relation to Covid-19, the world, including Europe and North America, continue to suffer steady economic and social decline as a direct result of the ‘lockdown’ policies, which constrain movement in the populations and constricts the movement of goods and provision of the full spectrum of services. The implications for economic, civil, political and social freedoms are clear. These freedoms have now been rolled back and limited as countries pursue public health and safety goals needed to curb the pandemic. But some countries have opted for a different approach to dealing with the Covid-19 threat. Countries such as Sweden, Iceland, Belarus, Japan, South Korea This immediate policy measure of ‘Lockdown’ is of interest to Africa, where living conditions and the state of economies presents great implementation and human rights challenges. Accordingly, this report, presents below (Figure 3), citizen perceptions on the legitimacy of quarantine and lockdown. The data in the figure is from an Afrobarometer survey on the perceptions of citizens in African countries regarding the legitimacy of the quarantine and lockdown measures and policies. 18