Reality hits home

Singapore is not the only country affected with the outbreak of Covid-19 coronavirus infection outbreak. There has been a spike in infections in countries like South Korea, Italy, and Iran in recent days. The United States of America is coming to grip with this coronavirus that does not respect physical borders.

“The OECD lowered its global GDP forecast by half a percentage point over coronavirus fears on Monday (2 March) to 2.4 percent, the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis.” OECD Economic Outlook, March 2020.

Travel across countries is greatly affected with flight cancellations due to reduced demands for travel to different countries. Situations are evolving and governments are providing travel advisories and instituting travel curbs on travellers to different countries.

Our lives have been disrupted. Events and large gatherings have been cancelled or postponed. We do not know whether future events will go ahead. One cannot plans ahead in the short term. In the meantime, we are subjected to temperature screening at many places, including self-declarations of places we had visited and whether we came into contacts with confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Countries are facing short supply of face masks. Panicky residents are stocking up supplies from noodles, rice to toilet papers. This is not just a unique phenomenon of Singapore. Other countries are the same. Such is the human nature of fear of the unknown. Will the supermarkets run out of certain items? That is their fear.

In time like this, just go with the flow. No need to be upset. Rational thinking will overcome fear. Social responsibility becomes important to stop the march of Covid-19. Personal responsibility is the starting point. Adopting precautions and personal hygiene are keys.

When will this Covid-19 outbreak end? It looks like a long battle. Our lives must still continue. Accept the inconvenience and live as normally as we can.