Last week, the World Bank released its October update on the developing economies of East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) after nine months of grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic. The report, which does not cover Singapore, makes for grim reading, but also points to some silver linings.

But first, the bad news: Although countries in the region have handled the pandemic relatively well compared with some other parts of the world, such as South Asia, Latin America and even the United States and Britain, the pain has been severe.