Life won't return to way it was pre-pandemic: Experts

Nearly three in 10 respondents in an online survey feel that life will never return to the way it was before the pandemic.

The 28 per cent who felt that way were among 1,000 Singaporeans aged 16 and above who took part in a survey commissioned by The Straits Times and conducted by market research firm Milieu Insight from Jan 6 to 10.

Nine per cent said they believed life in Singapore this year would return to the way it was pre-pandemic, while 32 per cent felt this would happen next year. Another 31 per cent thought this would happen after 2023.

Separately, 52 per cent said they had believed that at the start of last year, life would have returned to a pre-pandemic normal by the end of that year.

Associate Professor Natasha Howard and Assistant Professor Hannah Clapham from the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health echoed the view that life would not return to pre-pandemic norms.

But not all changes are bad, Prof Howard added.

"Normalisation of flexible and remote working, education and healthcare increases access for those who might otherwise be excluded due to caring responsibilities... and so on," she said.

Professor Dale Fisher, senior consultant at the National University Hospital's Division of Infectious Diseases, believes most pre-pandemic norms will resume, including not having to wear masks and gathering in large groups.

"It's just not the way people want to live, and the absence of such restrictions overseas will influence public opinion here."

On the other hand, virtual meetings, telemedicine and working from home will persist because they now have a role in people's lives and their introduction was expedited by Covid-19, he added.

On how the Government handled the pandemic last year, Prof Howard said its "evidence-informed and logical" approach led to better public responses and outcomes than in some other high-income countries.

Prof Clapham felt it had taken a rational and balanced approach.

Meanwhile, 36 per cent of the survey's respondents said that compared with the start of 2020, they felt either slightly or much more confident in the Government's ability to handle the Covid-19 crisis this year, while 29 per cent felt either slightly or much less confident.

Prof Fisher noted that while other countries "flipped in and out of harsh social restrictions", including lockdowns, Singapore maintained a more consistent and moderate stance. But he added that the delay in seniors' vaccine uptake had resulted in greater mortality in this group.

Professor Josip Car, director of the Centre for Population Health Sciences at Nanyang Technological University, noted that Singapore has one of the lowest mortality and highest vaccination rates in the world.

The Government had been "exceptionally efficient" in adapting to new developments during the pandemic, he said.