The pandemic has been terrible not only for the human body but also for the body politic.

Democracy and respect for human rights have deteriorated in 80 countries since the pandemic began, says Freedom House, a think-tank in Washington.

The list includes both dictatorships that have grown nastier and democracies where standards have slipped. Only one country, Malawi, has improved.

Global freedom has been declining since just before the financial crisis of 2007-08, by Freedom House's reckoning. Covid-19 has accelerated this pre-existing trend in several ways.