A lot of us are dismayed by the roller coaster of Covid-19 restrictions we have been on since April last year.
I note that Denmark is now fully open and the Danish people have learnt to live with the coronavirus (How Denmark is living with Covid-19 as an endemic disease, Oct 4).
Since there are similarities between Denmark and Singapore in terms of population size (5.85 million versus 5.45 million here) and vaccination rate (85 per cent versus 82 per cent here), I thought - if they can do it, why can't we?
But this is where the similarities end though.
We do not have the luxury of Denmark's 43,000 sq km of space. Instead Singapore, probably one of the most densely populated countries in the world with just 730 sq km of space, is close to 60 times smaller than Denmark but with similar population numbers.
Reading the article gave me an insight on what Singapore has been doing to fight this pandemic and the hurdles we face as a society in overcoming this.
Singapore, a much more heterogeneous country, has still managed to keep the number of serious cases and deaths very low, while support systems and medical infrastructure remain efficient.
I was struck by this line by a professor interviewed in the article: "My overall assessment is that society now accepts it when a few people die with Covid-19, just as we have to accept flu as a cause of death."
With 2,665 Covid-19 deaths in Denmark, as compared with a little over 120 in Singapore, I think we can safely say that our leaders have been doing a good job and are aware of where their priorities lie.
Yes, I can forgo a get-together with many friends and family members, and I will continue to order food delivery and work from home, if that means having a much higher chance of surviving and not becoming another figure in the death toll.
I, for one, will not get too worried about the number of infections and changing restrictions any more, because I want to trust the Government, that it will help and support the residents, just as it places its trust in us.
Amit Nagpal
