When all this is over, we will all look back and wonder how the whole world got unravelled by a virus but in the meantime, we have to deal with it and live through it and write about it.

Because at times like these, you have to keep reminding yourself and others that life goes on, and we are getting back up on the horse. Travel companies that imposed bans on their employees have eased back – travel is essential if business is to go on.

Living life in Orange in Singapore means waking up to blue skies every day, going for meetings – I never knew there were so many cool cafes in town – washing and sanitizing hands, speaking to taxi drivers and commiserating with their drop in income and thanking the government for the latest Budget to help companies and residents through this Black Swan event, from cash payouts to training grants to subsidies, as well as for their transparency and tracking efforts to control the outbreak, actions that have been lauded by global institutions.

Post-Covid 19, I reckon Singapore will come out smelling like sweet disinfected roses.

As of this moment, thousands of our Asian travel brethren are headed to Berlin for the world’s biggest travel show which, as of today, is going on as scheduled from March 4-6.

It has sent an advisory, saying, “The safety and health of our exhibitors, visitors and partners is our number one priority. At present, we do not foresee any impacts for the upcoming ITB Berlin but as a precaution we are introducing new measures to increase the safety of all attendees at ITB Berlin.”

This includes having rapid response English speaking medical teams and other health professionals onsite; hand disinfectors at all entrances, toilets and washrooms; and increasing the frequency of disinfection of sanitary facilities.

And this is the bit I like – “Please notice these simple, common-sense actions to avoid close contact with other people like you would do with other flu viruses.”

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