> Why would any government want to justify longer than needed lockdowns? To avoid protests that annoy it and could challenge it in the next elections. All Euro

> Why would any government want to justify longer than needed lockdowns? To avoid protests that annoy it and could challenge it in the next elections. All Europe locked down last spring, but there is an accusation that France’s lockdown was unusually strict because that way Macron's government could, at the stroke of a pen, get rid of the Yellow Vests movement that had been so obnoxious over the preceding months. Meanwhile, in Russia it is clear that social-distancing laws are being used as one more tool against gatherings that the regime doesn’t like (while pro-regime gatherings might go ahead unhindered with zero masks or distancing).