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Time really flies. Covid-19 has spread across the world in only half
a year after just a few cases were identified and confirmed at its alleged
ground zero last December.

It is undeniable that Covid-19 has transformed the lives of humans

everywhere. We have been forced to quickly adapt to these 'new norms'
due to this pandemic. I will be sharing some views and
recommendations on this new normal post-Covid-19.

First, it is essential to realise that no nation is exempt from facing

this challenging pandemic that causes a severe rate of fatalities and
many citizens are holding their governments accountable for every
approach taken in light of the pandemic.

I would like to cite a Greek myth here to address this status quo.
In ancient Greece, there were two awful creatures, one was Scylla and
the other went by the name of Charybdis. Scylla was a horrible six-
headed monster while Charybdis was a whirlpool. Sailors who got stuck
between the two of them and had to opt to choose one side to get
through. When ships passed close to Scylla, in order to avoid Charybdis,
she would seize this chance to wipe out the whole ship, and vice versa.

This story illustrates the situation in which one is caught between

two equally unpleasant alternatives or situations. This is what is
happening to governments as well. They need to take into
consideration people’s wishes and needs as well as finding a fine
balance with conflicting interests within the nation. Nevertheless,
governments must put the health, safety, and well-being of citizens as
primary importance during this time of crisis.
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Some notable 'new normal' adapted today are wearing masks,

washing hands frequently with hand sanitiser or soap, maintaining
social distancing with others, only go out for the purpose of buying
necessities. All these practices are really effective in helping to curb
Covid-19. If we were to take a retrospective view on this measure, the
pandemic would not have taken away hundreds of thousands of lives if
citizens had the awareness of practising good hygiene in their daily life.
At the end of the day, we are forced to learn it the hard way. Hopefully,
every Tom, Dick, and Harry will regard this as an invaluable life lesson
and always prioritise personal hygiene in all circumstances even after
this pandemic subsides.

Other than that, there are many reasons to believe there is a crucial
need to transform most businesses to suit the current circumstances.
When Covid-19 struck Malaysia and the Movement Control Order took
effect, businesses shut down, employers went bankrupt, there was a
large scale of retrenchment and a surge in the unemployment rate. For
instance, many bubble tea outlets in SS15 have been forced to shutter.
However, brands like Zoom and Tik Tok were not affected by this
pandemic. Those platforms are widely used for work and entertainment
purposes amid the crisis. This tells us that conventional and traditional
businesses should change their modus operandi and make sure they
are on par with other modern and high-tech companies. Government
agencies like the Ministry of Finance, MITI, the Prime Minister’s
Department (Economy), the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation as
well as NGOs can co-organise courses to assist businesses to garner
information regarding ways to digitalise their businesses and maximise
their awareness of consumer trends to ensure the competency and
robustness of their mode of business.
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The other new normal will revolve around the economic sector.
Before Covid-19 shocked the world, consumers would have a great time
bonding with family members and friends in public, dining at
restaurants. Food delivery apps were not the primary consideration of
many when they had the choice of driving to a restaurant themselves or
taking public transport or even carpooling as some find it more
enjoyable when dining out. But, our life has experienced a sudden
change as we could now only take away our food by driving through or
queuing at restaurants due to social distancing. Alternately, we would
order our food via mobile apps like GrabFood, FoodPanda, and
DahMakan. As a result, we can foresee that food delivery apps will thrive
and more restaurants will join in the trend to deploy more manpower
to conduct food deliveries to survive in the new era.

The highest employment rate of the decade took place in Malaysia

and this should be given attention as well. According to the Department
of Statistics chief statistician Mohd Uzir, the Malaysian unemployment
rate in March 2020 had increased to 3.9 per cent, the highest since June
2010 when the employment rate was at 3.6 per cent. This means many
employees are losing their jobs due to this pandemic. Some businesses
do allow workers to work from home and they will still receive wages as
usual but this isn’t the case for the majority taking into consideration
the statistics given. This teaches us to realise the importance of having
a side or passive income to better support one's livelihood. Examples of
side incomes are rental income, small businesses, investments, etc. One
should also allocate a portion of their salary for saving in the bank as
preparation for emergency events.

Besides, this pandemic had resulted in the closure of all

educational institutions like universities, schools, tuition centers, and
nurseries. A more contemporary and advanced method of teaching and
learning has been adopted by these institutions. For example, lecturers
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and teachers are taking learning processes online via platforms such as
Zoom, Google Meet, Google Hangout, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, and
Whatsapp to ensure students can still have their classes going on as
usual in order to complete the syllabus. For example, university students
may submit and complete their exams online and submit their
respective answers via the university’s designated platform. This
pandemic has indeed reshaped our education system, and learning
methods in the future may never be the same again. Some students do
find it more comfortable learning from home due to its flexibility and
students are more active to engage with their lecturers.

All in all, some individuals regard Covid-19 and the year 2020 as
disastrous and as if fate is playing a prank with them. On a positive note,
we can regard this crisis as a chance for us to better ourselves, be it
culinary skills or knowledge gained from reading, and be grateful to be
able to spend more quality time with our loved ones, as well as learning
some life lessons such as the need to be resilient in any situation. We
should also spend some time to be thankful of the immense efforts,
sacrifices, dedication, and commitment devoted by the unsung heroes
of the nation, i.e. the front-liners either in civil services or healthcare
services in dealing with the condition of Covid-19, for the sake of the
nation even though their jobs put them at risk. Big kudos and salute to
all!