Can countries pay back pandemic debt?

This BBC clip looks as the debt incurred by government's over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, and wonders how nation's can pay back the accumulated national debt.

There's a nice distinction between budget deficits and national debt, with clarity about the extent to which debt should be considered an issue, although you might argue that the notion of pandemic 'debt' in the headline is a little bit misleading.

However, you might ask whether governments should even be concerned about paying back that debt - and, indeed, the clip implies this.