Lianhe Zaobao launches book on Singapore's Covid-19 experience

Despite being a veteran teacher of more than 20 years, Madam Yu Lin felt great anxiety when all her classes went online.

"Even face to face, it was sometimes difficult to engage my students," she said, recounting the sudden shift to home-based learning in 2020. "When this happened, it felt like I was a shepherd whose sheep had suddenly scattered."

Madam Yu, who at the time headed Serangoon Garden Secondary School's mother tongue department, turned to digital tools - including photo-editing app Meitu Xiu Xiu - to grade her students' work. And to her surprise, she found that her students adapted well and even thrived.

"I thought that they would have been even more flustered than I was," said the 57-year-old, who is now at Whitley Secondary School. "But they were actually much calmer... They were more willing to help and support one another with their work."

Her experiences, along with those of many other Singaporeans, have been documented in a new Chinese-language book called Covid Warriors: The Singapore Way.

The 204-page volume was written by journalists from Lianhe Zaobao and officially launched yesterday. It will go on sale at bookstores for $25 next month.

In addition to telling the stories of everyday people, the book captures the perspective of Singapore's leaders, including President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"Living with the virus involves a fundamental change in attitude," PM Lee wrote in the book's preface. "We have to respect the virus, but we cannot hold ourselves back in fear of it."

Speaking at yesterday's launch event, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the book comes at a time when Singapore is entering a new stage in its battle against Covid-19.

For example, the country has gone from adopting a "zero-Covid" strategy to living with the virus, and from putting in place circuit-breaker measures to implementing a safe reopening.

"Apart from outlining the Government's thinking at various turning points during the pandemic, the book also documents the efforts made by people from all walks of life as they worked towards living with the virus," he said in Mandarin. "It is a deeply significant and valuable record."

Mr Ong also took part in a dialogue with Professor Leo Yee Sin, executive director of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, and Professor Wang Linfa, an expert on emerging infectious diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School.

Earlier this month, The Straits Times released a separate English-language book on the country's pandemic experience, titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story. It is available now for $28.