Moving beyond Covid-19: How can Singapore find a new way forward in a more challenging landscape?

Over the past month, as Singapore took its most decisive strides towards life as it was before the pandemic, it appeared to be fulfilling a prognosis by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in October last year. In a national address on the Covid-19 situation, he indicated that it could take up to six months to reach a state of living with the virus.

Assoc Prof Sulfikar Amir from NTU, who researches risk and disaster, notes that Singapore's population has been living under restrictions for some two years now - enough time to shape behaviours that internalise health protocols and precautions at both individual and communal levels. "Habits of reducing risk of infection will stay for a longer time and remain part of our new normal culture," he says, adding that Singaporeans' acceptance of such conditions could be a factor in the country's success in handling the pandemic and averting high fatality rates as seen in other countries.

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