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为追求绝对清零,这个国家决定闭关至明年

为追求绝对清零,这个国家决定闭关至明年

麦甘云(Grady McGregor) 2021-06-23
澳大利亚实施了新冠疫情归零策略,而且基本上实现了其目标。

2020年,澳大利亚成功地执行了“新冠清零”策略,该国通过苛刻的边境关闭、严格的居家隔离和高频率检测以及合约跟踪,基本上消除了新冠病毒。在新冠疫情爆发18个月之后,即便病毒死灰复燃的规模再小,澳大利亚依然会推行最严厉的限制政策。

5月24日,在澳大利亚东南部维多利亚州有着500万人口的墨尔本,当地政府发现了4例新冠感染病例,打破了该州86天零病例的纪录。数天后,当地政府发现了26例本土病例,促使政府颁发了自去年以来第四次全州范围的居家隔离令,并关闭了学校和大部分私人企业,同时禁止了所有公众聚会。维州居民只能够待在家中,但可以采购食物,进行锻炼,注射疫苗,或从事政府认为必要的工作。

悉尼大学(University of Sydney)悉尼政策实验室(Sydney Policy Lab)的主任马克•斯蒂尔斯说:“澳大利亚的大多数州都采取了这一措施,只要出现一例感染病例,他们就会非常迅速地采取严苛的限制措施。”

事实证明,最近的居家隔离令获得了成功。维多利亚州的病例逐渐减少,而且该州于上周开始放宽了限制令,允许一些私人企业重新开业,并解除了对小型私人聚会的限制。

自疫情爆发以来,拥有2500万人口的澳大利亚仅出现了3万多例确诊病例和910例死亡病例。作为对比,人口和GDP略多的加拿大累计新冠确诊病例超过了140万例,累计死亡超2.6万例。

毫无疑问,澳大利亚超级保守的策略挽救了生命,但与美国这类国家相比,这种方式如今可能导致其变得更加孤立。哪怕病毒依然在传播,但这些国家疫苗接种率的上升正在加速重启计划,并推动了经济的恢复。

像中国、新加坡和新西兰这类亚太地区的国家已经成功地部署了新冠清零措施,基本上在国内消除了新冠感染。然而,随着一些新冠清零经济体在疫苗接种率上升之际考虑重新开放其边境,澳大利亚看起来要封闭到明年,因为令其感到满意的是,其政策得到了民众的接受而且卓有成效。因此,他们宁愿封锁这个国家,甚至连一些国民都无法入境。

边境

除了居家隔离令之外,澳大利亚仍然在执行全球最严苛的某些边境限制举措。

例如澳大利亚依然在实施非本国公民几乎一律不得入境的旅行禁令。即便居住在海外的澳大利亚公民要入境也不是一件容易的事情。他们需要争抢每周有限的回澳机票,而且在落地后必须执行为期14天的酒店强制隔离。来自于印度这类被视为新冠高风险地区的澳大利亚公民则被彻底禁止返澳,而且尝试规避这条禁令的公民或将面临牢狱之灾。(5月,澳大利亚提供了一些遣返航班,将部分公民从印度接回本国,比如那些身体状况不佳的公民。)

澳大利亚还强制实施了离境禁令,禁止大多数公民离开澳大利亚。一个名为Libertyworks的右翼智囊团在法院挑战了澳大利亚的离境禁令,但一名联邦法官在本月早些时候驳回了该案。

斯蒂尔斯表示,澳大利亚的新冠疫情响应基本上是以州为单位来执行,但旅行禁令则是少数由联邦政府实施的政策之一。这种自上而下的性质可能有助于维持政策的效力。

他说:“联邦政府非常不愿意放松国际边境限制,因为他们知道此举在维持低感染病例方面的作用比他们尝试过的任何干预举措都更有效。”

他还表示,澳大利亚总理斯科特•莫里森的政府在明年将进入选举年,而且他的政党不大愿意放弃据称是该党最成功的新冠控制举措。

公众支持会提升旅行禁令的效用。5月,约79%的澳大利亚民众在调查中称,他们希望在全球疫情得到控制之前保持边境的关闭。

Newgate Research的董事总经理休•韦尔科说:“一旦澳大利亚的疫情在极早期得到了控制,那么各界民众非常不愿意看到边境的开启。”该公司在今年早些时候之前一直在跟踪澳大利亚民众对旅行禁令的态度。

疫苗

要想重新开放边境,最直接的方式就是接种疫苗,而澳大利亚在这方面明显起步缓慢。

截至6月18日,澳大利亚仅有3%的民众完成了疫苗接种,不过这场“疫苗接种运动”也已经出现一些向好的迹象。

约21%的澳大利亚民众已经接种一剂疫苗,澳大利亚政府表示计划于年底前完成全民接种工作。

香港大学的流行病学家本•考林称,对于像澳大利亚这样的“防疫模范”经济体,一旦国民的疫苗接种率达到70%,就应该开始考虑重新开放边境,或者至少应该允许已经完成疫苗接种的游客入境。

他说:“当疫苗接种率达到该水平(70%)后,即便有病毒输入,也很难引发大规模疫情。”

不过即便达到较高的疫苗接种率,澳大利亚可能仍然不会向境外人士敞开大门。

今年5月发布的澳大利亚政府年度预算显示,澳大利亚计划到2022年中期再恢复国际航班。

对那些期待重启全球旅行的人来说,此种延期无疑让人大失所望。

旅游与交通论坛(Tourism & Transport Forum)的首席执行官玛吉•奥斯蒙德称:“我们面临着被其他国家抛在身后的风险。”对于开放国境的时间和方式,澳大利亚政府并未作出太多说明。他说:“我当然不希望澳大利亚成为南太平洋上被人遗忘的国家。”

中国和新加坡

选择孤立主义道路的国家并非只有澳大利亚。

中国同样采取了限制外国旅客入境的措施,并要求所有从境外归国的公民都必须先在酒店进行隔离,一旦出现轻微疫情,还会对疫区进行封锁。虽然中国的疫苗接种速度正在提升,但其并未公布重新开放边境的计划。

目前,中国已经达到接种10亿剂新冠疫苗的里程碑,有负责公共卫生工作的官员表示,到今年年底,中国将为80%的公民接种疫苗。不过作为卫生领域的高级官员,复旦大学附属华山医院感染科主任张文宏本月早些时候已经表示,直到2022年上半年之前,中国可能不会考虑重新开放边境,甚至有限开放也不在考虑范围之内。

美国外交关系协会(Council on Foreign Relations)负责全球卫生事务的黄延中(音译)表示:“在疫苗接种率如此之高的背景之下,你可能会觉得中国将考虑放宽边境管制。但事实并非如此,情况似乎恰恰相反。”他认为中国可能担心新出现的、更具传播性的变种病毒会导致疫情爆发,也可能是对国产疫苗的效力缺乏信心。

他指出,由于现有政策已经成功地将疫情阻于境外,与澳大利亚一样,中国政府并未感到公众要求重新开放边境的压力。

“对中国国内民众而言,开放边境似乎并非他们关心的主要问题。”黄延中说。

牛津经济研究院(Oxford Economics)驻香港首席经济学家胡东安(Tommy Wu)指出,虽然旅行限制可能会造成经济上的痛苦,但到目前为止,在没有国际旅行的情况下,防疫工作做得较好的经济体的表现大多可圈可点。

“像中国和澳大利亚这样的‘防疫模范’经济体对出口更加依赖,强劲的全球贸易复苏也让他们受益匪浅。”胡东安表示。

2020年,澳大利亚经济陷入衰退,较前一年萎缩2.5%。但在2021年第一季度,由于铁矿石和天然气出口的增长以及强劲的消费支出,澳大利亚经济增长超过预期,达1.8%。

而中国则是全球唯一一个在2020年实现增长的主要经济体,2021年第一季度出口同比增长了38.7%。

对于这些幅员辽阔的国家来说,国内旅行也能够部分缓解由封闭边境造成的负面影响。

在刚刚过去的五一假期,中国“国内游”人次较2019年疫情爆发前增加了3.2%。与此同时,澳大利亚的澳州航空公司(Qantas Airways)今年4月发布报告称,由于国内旅游和商务旅行的复苏,其国内航班的载客量已经达到新冠疫情爆发前90%的水平。

但部分体量较小的“防疫模范”国家则不免产生一种“幽闭世外”的恐惧感,同时因为旅游收入方面的损失而倍感焦虑。

新加坡总理李显龙在5月31日的一次讲话中宣布,随着国内疫苗接种率的不断提高,该国将在未来几个月解除国内封锁、重新开放边境,即便这样可能会导致出现零星病例。

李显龙在讲话中说:“全球疫情终将趋缓,但我不认为新冠肺炎会就此消失。在这个新常态下,即使病毒仍然在四周潜伏,我们也必须学着继续生活。”

如果新加坡可以安全、成功地重新开放边境,那么像中国、澳大利亚这样的国家可能也会随之跟进。

考林说:“如果新加坡在今夏晚些时候率先恢复正常,我想亚洲的许多其他地区也会按捺不住想要追随该国的脚步。”(财富中文网)

译者:梁宇

审校:夏林

2020年,澳大利亚成功地执行了“新冠清零”策略,该国通过苛刻的边境关闭、严格的居家隔离和高频率检测以及合约跟踪,基本上消除了新冠病毒。在新冠疫情爆发18个月之后,即便病毒死灰复燃的规模再小,澳大利亚依然会推行最严厉的限制政策。

5月24日,在澳大利亚东南部维多利亚州有着500万人口的墨尔本,当地政府发现了4例新冠感染病例,打破了该州86天零病例的纪录。数天后,当地政府发现了26例本土病例,促使政府颁发了自去年以来第四次全州范围的居家隔离令,并关闭了学校和大部分私人企业,同时禁止了所有公众聚会。维州居民只能够待在家中,但可以采购食物,进行锻炼,注射疫苗,或从事政府认为必要的工作。

悉尼大学(University of Sydney)悉尼政策实验室(Sydney Policy Lab)的主任马克•斯蒂尔斯说:“澳大利亚的大多数州都采取了这一措施,只要出现一例感染病例,他们就会非常迅速地采取严苛的限制措施。”

事实证明,最近的居家隔离令获得了成功。维多利亚州的病例逐渐减少,而且该州于上周开始放宽了限制令,允许一些私人企业重新开业,并解除了对小型私人聚会的限制。

自疫情爆发以来,拥有2500万人口的澳大利亚仅出现了3万多例确诊病例和910例死亡病例。作为对比,人口和GDP略多的加拿大累计新冠确诊病例超过了140万例,累计死亡超2.6万例。

毫无疑问,澳大利亚超级保守的策略挽救了生命,但与美国这类国家相比,这种方式如今可能导致其变得更加孤立。哪怕病毒依然在传播,但这些国家疫苗接种率的上升正在加速重启计划,并推动了经济的恢复。

像中国、新加坡和新西兰这类亚太地区的国家已经成功地部署了新冠清零措施,基本上在国内消除了新冠感染。然而,随着一些新冠清零经济体在疫苗接种率上升之际考虑重新开放其边境,澳大利亚看起来要封闭到明年,因为令其感到满意的是,其政策得到了民众的接受而且卓有成效。因此,他们宁愿封锁这个国家,甚至连一些国民都无法入境。

边境

除了居家隔离令之外,澳大利亚仍然在执行全球最严苛的某些边境限制举措。

例如澳大利亚依然在实施非本国公民几乎一律不得入境的旅行禁令。即便居住在海外的澳大利亚公民要入境也不是一件容易的事情。他们需要争抢每周有限的回澳机票,而且在落地后必须执行为期14天的酒店强制隔离。来自于印度这类被视为新冠高风险地区的澳大利亚公民则被彻底禁止返澳,而且尝试规避这条禁令的公民或将面临牢狱之灾。(5月,澳大利亚提供了一些遣返航班,将部分公民从印度接回本国,比如那些身体状况不佳的公民。)

澳大利亚还强制实施了离境禁令,禁止大多数公民离开澳大利亚。一个名为Libertyworks的右翼智囊团在法院挑战了澳大利亚的离境禁令,但一名联邦法官在本月早些时候驳回了该案。

斯蒂尔斯表示,澳大利亚的新冠疫情响应基本上是以州为单位来执行,但旅行禁令则是少数由联邦政府实施的政策之一。这种自上而下的性质可能有助于维持政策的效力。

他说:“联邦政府非常不愿意放松国际边境限制,因为他们知道此举在维持低感染病例方面的作用比他们尝试过的任何干预举措都更有效。”

他还表示,澳大利亚总理斯科特•莫里森的政府在明年将进入选举年,而且他的政党不大愿意放弃据称是该党最成功的新冠控制举措。

公众支持会提升旅行禁令的效用。5月,约79%的澳大利亚民众在调查中称,他们希望在全球疫情得到控制之前保持边境的关闭。

Newgate Research的董事总经理休•韦尔科说:“一旦澳大利亚的疫情在极早期得到了控制,那么各界民众非常不愿意看到边境的开启。”该公司在今年早些时候之前一直在跟踪澳大利亚民众对旅行禁令的态度。

疫苗

要想重新开放边境,最直接的方式就是接种疫苗,而澳大利亚在这方面明显起步缓慢。

截至6月18日,澳大利亚仅有3%的民众完成了疫苗接种,不过这场“疫苗接种运动”也已经出现一些向好的迹象。

约21%的澳大利亚民众已经接种一剂疫苗,澳大利亚政府表示计划于年底前完成全民接种工作。

香港大学的流行病学家本•考林称,对于像澳大利亚这样的“防疫模范”经济体,一旦国民的疫苗接种率达到70%,就应该开始考虑重新开放边境,或者至少应该允许已经完成疫苗接种的游客入境。

他说:“当疫苗接种率达到该水平(70%)后,即便有病毒输入,也很难引发大规模疫情。”

不过即便达到较高的疫苗接种率,澳大利亚可能仍然不会向境外人士敞开大门。

今年5月发布的澳大利亚政府年度预算显示,澳大利亚计划到2022年中期再恢复国际航班。

对那些期待重启全球旅行的人来说,此种延期无疑让人大失所望。

旅游与交通论坛(Tourism & Transport Forum)的首席执行官玛吉•奥斯蒙德称:“我们面临着被其他国家抛在身后的风险。”对于开放国境的时间和方式,澳大利亚政府并未作出太多说明。他说:“我当然不希望澳大利亚成为南太平洋上被人遗忘的国家。”

中国和新加坡

选择孤立主义道路的国家并非只有澳大利亚。

中国同样采取了限制外国旅客入境的措施,并要求所有从境外归国的公民都必须先在酒店进行隔离,一旦出现轻微疫情,还会对疫区进行封锁。虽然中国的疫苗接种速度正在提升,但其并未公布重新开放边境的计划。

目前,中国已经达到接种10亿剂新冠疫苗的里程碑,有负责公共卫生工作的官员表示,到今年年底,中国将为80%的公民接种疫苗。不过作为卫生领域的高级官员,复旦大学附属华山医院感染科主任张文宏本月早些时候已经表示,直到2022年上半年之前,中国可能不会考虑重新开放边境,甚至有限开放也不在考虑范围之内。

美国外交关系协会(Council on Foreign Relations)负责全球卫生事务的黄延中(音译)表示:“在疫苗接种率如此之高的背景之下,你可能会觉得中国将考虑放宽边境管制。但事实并非如此,情况似乎恰恰相反。”他认为中国可能担心新出现的、更具传播性的变种病毒会导致疫情爆发,也可能是对国产疫苗的效力缺乏信心。

他指出,由于现有政策已经成功地将疫情阻于境外,与澳大利亚一样,中国政府并未感到公众要求重新开放边境的压力。

“对中国国内民众而言,开放边境似乎并非他们关心的主要问题。”黄延中说。

牛津经济研究院(Oxford Economics)驻香港首席经济学家胡东安(Tommy Wu)指出,虽然旅行限制可能会造成经济上的痛苦,但到目前为止,在没有国际旅行的情况下,防疫工作做得较好的经济体的表现大多可圈可点。

“像中国和澳大利亚这样的‘防疫模范’经济体对出口更加依赖,强劲的全球贸易复苏也让他们受益匪浅。”胡东安表示。

2020年,澳大利亚经济陷入衰退,较前一年萎缩2.5%。但在2021年第一季度,由于铁矿石和天然气出口的增长以及强劲的消费支出,澳大利亚经济增长超过预期,达1.8%。

而中国则是全球唯一一个在2020年实现增长的主要经济体,2021年第一季度出口同比增长了38.7%。

对于这些幅员辽阔的国家来说,国内旅行也能够部分缓解由封闭边境造成的负面影响。

在刚刚过去的五一假期,中国“国内游”人次较2019年疫情爆发前增加了3.2%。与此同时,澳大利亚的澳州航空公司(Qantas Airways)今年4月发布报告称,由于国内旅游和商务旅行的复苏,其国内航班的载客量已经达到新冠疫情爆发前90%的水平。

但部分体量较小的“防疫模范”国家则不免产生一种“幽闭世外”的恐惧感,同时因为旅游收入方面的损失而倍感焦虑。

新加坡总理李显龙在5月31日的一次讲话中宣布,随着国内疫苗接种率的不断提高,该国将在未来几个月解除国内封锁、重新开放边境,即便这样可能会导致出现零星病例。

李显龙在讲话中说:“全球疫情终将趋缓,但我不认为新冠肺炎会就此消失。在这个新常态下,即使病毒仍然在四周潜伏,我们也必须学着继续生活。”

如果新加坡可以安全、成功地重新开放边境,那么像中国、澳大利亚这样的国家可能也会随之跟进。

考林说:“如果新加坡在今夏晚些时候率先恢复正常,我想亚洲的许多其他地区也会按捺不住想要追随该国的脚步。”(财富中文网)

译者:梁宇

审校:夏林

In 2020, Australia successfully implemented ‘COVID-zero’ strategies—mostly eliminating the coronavirus with harsh border closures, strict lockdowns, and intensive testing and contract tracing. And eighteen months since the onset of the pandemic, Australia is still enforcing the toughest restrictions for the smallest of virus flare-ups.

On May 24, authorities in Melbourne, a city of 5 million in Australia’s southeastern Victoria state, detected four COVID-19 infections, breaking the state’s 86-day streak without recording a single case. Days later, authorities found 26 local cases, prompting the government to institute its fourth state-wide lockdown since last year, closing schools, shuttering most private businesses, and banning all public gatherings. Victoria residents were confined to their homes with exceptions granted to stock up on food, exercise, get vaccinated, or go to jobs that the government deemed essential.

“The vast majority of Australian states take this approach... As soon as there's even a single case, they move to very restrictive practices very quickly,” says Marc Stears, director of the Sydney Policy Lab at the University of Sydney.

The latest lockdown is proving successful. Cases have tapered off in Victoria, and the state started to ease restrictions last week, allowing some private businesses to re-open and lifting limits on small, private gatherings.

Since the start of the pandemic, Australia, a country of 25 million people, has recorded just over 30,000 cases and 910 deaths. By comparison, Canada, a country with a slightly larger population and GDP than Australia, has recorded over 1.4 million infections and over 26,000 deaths.

Australia’s ultra conservative strategy has no doubt saved lives, but that same approach may now leave it isolated in comparison to countries like the U.S., where rising vaccination rates are accelerating reopening plans and stoking economic recoveries, even as the virus continues to circulate.

Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, like China, Singapore, and New Zealand, have successfully deployed COVID-zero measures to virtually stamp out the disease within their borders. But as some COVID-zero economies consider re-opening borders as vaccination rates climb, Australia looks set to stay shut well into next year, satisfied that its policies are popular and wildly effective, even if they so isolate the country that even some citizens are barred from entering.

The border

In addition to lockdown measures, Australia continues to deploy some of the world’s harshest border restrictions.

Australia maintains a near universal travel ban on all non-citizens coming to the country. And even Australian citizens living abroad don't have an easy time entering. They need to fight for a limited number of plane seats per week to get into the country and must serve a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine upon arrival. Australians in countries deemed at high-risk for COVID-19 like India, are completely banned from returning home, and face potential prison time if they attempt to circumvent the ban. (In May, Australia launched some repatriation flights to bring select citizens home from India, such as those with medical conditions.)

Australia has also imposed an exit ban that bars most of its citizens from leaving the country. A rightwing think tank called Libertyworks challenged Australia's outbound ban in court, but a federal judge dismissed the case earlier this month.

Australia’s COVID-19 response largely has been dictated on a state-by-state basis, but the travel restrictions are one of the few policies imposed by the federal government, Stears says. That top-down nature may contribute to their staying power.

“The federal government is very unwilling to relax international border restrictions, because they know that it’s much more effective in keeping cases low than almost any other intervention they've made,” he says.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government will face elections next year, and his party may not want to retreat from what's arguably its most successful COVID containment measure, he added.

It helps that travel restrictions have public support. In May, some 79% of Australians said in a poll that they want to keep borders shut until the global pandemic is under control.

“Once we got COVID-19 under control pretty early in Australia, the community was very reluctant to see those borders open,” says Sue Vercoe, managing director of Newgate Research, a firm that tracked Australian attitudes to the travel restrictions until earlier this year.

The vaccines

The clearest path to open borders is by way of vaccines, but Australia's campaign has gotten off to a slow start.

As of June 18, 3% of Australians are fully vaccinated. Still, the immunization drive is showing signs of life.

Some 21% of Australians have received one vaccine dose and the government says it aims to fully vaccinate its population by the end of this year.

Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the university of Hong Kong, says that once COVID-zero economies like Australia vaccinate 70% of their populations, they should begin thinking about re-opening their borders, at least to fully-vaccinated travelers.

“At that [70% vaccination] point, even if the virus gets in… there will be a big barrier to any kind of large epidemic,” he says.

But even if Australia reaches high vaccination rates, it may not open its floodgates to arrivals.

In May, the Australian government’s annual budget said that Australia did not plan to resume international flights until the middle of 2022.

The delay has frustrated those hoping for a global restart of travel.

“We face the risk of the rest of the world leaving us behind,” says Margy Osmond, chief executive officer of the Tourism & Transport Forum. She says the government has provided little guidance on when and how it plans to reopen international borders. “I certainly hope that we are not headed to be the lost kingdom of the South Pacific.”

China and Singapore

Australia is not alone in opting for an isolationist path.

China also restricts foreign travelers from entering its borders, mandates hotel quarantines for all citizens returning home, and deploys lockdowns to contain minor outbreaks. It has announced few plans to re-open borders even as its vaccination campaign picks up speed.

China reached a milestone of distributing 1 billion COVID-19 shots to its citizensnow, and the country’s public health leaders say it's on pace to vaccinate 80% of Chinese citizens by the end of this year. Still, Zhang Wenhong, one of China's top health officials, said earlier this month that China likely will not consider re-opening borders, even on a limited basis, until the first half of 2022.

“With the high vaccination rate, you would expect that China is going to consider relaxing the border control restrictions. But that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact, the opposite seems to be true,” says Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Huang said that China may be worried about the rise of new, more transmissible variants and may not be confident in the efficacy of the home-grown vaccines it's distributing.

Similar to Australia, China may feel little public pressure to re-open the borders, given that the policy has succeeding in keeping out cases, he said.

“Opening the borders does not seem to be a major concern to the domestic population,” Huang said.

Tommy Wu, lead economist at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong, notes that while travel restrictions may inflict economic pain, some zero-COVID economies have fared well without international travel thus far.

“These ‘COVID-zero’ economies [like China and Australia] are more export-dependent, and they have been benefiting from strong global trade recovery,” says Wu.

Australia’s economy fell into recession in 2020, contracting 2.5% in comparison to the previous year. But in the first quarter of 2021, Australia’s economy beat expectations to grow 1.8% on the back of rising iron ore and gas exports and strong consumer spending.

China, meanwhile, was the only major economy in the world to grow in 2020, while exports boomed 38.7% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous year.

For these sprawling nations, domestic travel is also helping alleviate some of the burden of closed borders.

During the recent May Day holiday in China, Chinese travelers took 3.2% more trips around the country than they did in 2019 before the onset of the pandemic. The Australian airliner Qantas, meanwhile, reported in April that its passenger capacity on domestic flights is up to 90% of pre-COVID levels due to the return of internal tourism and business trips.

But in some smaller COVID-zero countries, a sense of claustrophobia and angst over lost tourism dollars and seem to be setting in.

In a speech on May 31, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong vowed to lift internal lockdowns and re-open borders in coming months as domestic vaccination rates improve, even if it means tolerating some new infections.

“One day this global pandemic will subside. But I do not expect COVID-19 to disappear,” he said in the speech. “In this new normal, we will have to learn to carry on with our lives even with the virus in our midst.”

If Singapore is able to safely and successfully re-open its borders, places like Australia and China may attempt to catch up.

“If Singapore is the first to go back to normal later this summer, then I think a lot of other parts of Asia will be itching to follow in their footsteps,” says Cowling.

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