IN FOCUS: How a year of COVID-19 changed Singapore forever
A year after Singapore reported its first COVID-19 case, CNA examines how the pandemic has changed the country. On remote working, NTU Assoc Prof Andy Ho acknowledged the benefits, but also pointed out that the pandemic further isolated those in abusive family relationships struggle to break free, unable to reach out to friends and other family members.
For families who don’t have a “strong dynamic” or are in “pressure cooker environments”, working from home can exacerbate these issues, said NTU Assoc Prof Andy Ho. The difference the last year has made is that it allowed Singapore to more openly confront these issues, he added.
The pandemic also sparked conversations about living conditions, mental health, and pay for the 300,000 migrant workers living in Singapore’s dormitories, and the country’s reliance on foreign labour. This “huge swell of sympathy”, together with donations in cash and kind during the height of the outbreak may have been short-lived, but it brought the issue of migrant workers and their place in Singapore’s society to the forefront, said NTU’s assistant professor in sociology Laavanya Kathiravelu.
On the aviation sector, Assoc Prof Trevor Yu from NTU NBS said: “Without an almost fully recovered global economy it is difficult to predict what or when a recovery will take place.” He added that the idea of staying in the same industry for one’s entire career had gone with COVID-19.
