'Sleep, exercise, work, eat': Ong Ye Kung on life amid Covid-19 in ST interview

SINGAPORE - What is an ideal way to spend the day?

"Sleep, exercise, work, eat, that's as ideal as it gets now," said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, as he answered some personal questions on Thursday (July 1) during an exclusive Straits Times interview on living with Covid-19.

There is also no difference between a weekday and a weekend, he said with a laugh.

The long-time Manchester United football team fan also expanded a little on the eating part - he prefers to have fried carrot cake for breakfast and prata for lunch.

He was answering quick-fire questions on ST News Night, a weeknight news show that rounds up the day's top news as well as what is trending online.

In an earlier interview on Thursday, he also talked about what life is like now. "There're no more weekends, there're no more rest days, meetings just pile up, e-mails come in from the public and from colleagues, fast and furious. So it's been like that for over a year."

While the whole family has been vaccinated, things are not the same as before. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Ong said that there would usually be one evening, a Friday or Saturday night, when they would go out as a family. Right now, with many events cancelled, he is usually at home and very busy with work.

He added: "The good thing is we are all at home more often. The bad thing is everyone is on their computer in their own room doing their own thing, watching their own Netflix programmes. We got to spend a bit more time talking to each other."

Travel is also the first thing he plans to do as a family once the situation returns to normal, Mr Ong said.