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Undeterred by the “circuit breaker” measures — implemented as a preventive measure in response to the Covid-19 pandemic on April 7 — theatre companies like Wild Rice began screening their past performances on YouTube. The arts community had to think out of the box to reach out to their audiences. For example, leading theatre companies like Pangdemonium, Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) and Wild Rice collaborated and produced a short free-to-air film about the challenges faced by the arts companies in Singapore titled The Pitch. The Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) launched full-length SCO concerts at home. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) even offered newly recorded and archival concerts online. Elsewhere, art galleries and museums screened virtual tours for the home-bound as we got up close and personal with the many exhibits.

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Singaporeans too jumped on the bandwagon as the “circuit breaker” period saw dessert and cake stores closed. Many locals grabbed the situation by the hands — literally — and started kneading their own dough. Supermarkets and baking supply stores quickly saw ingredients fly off the shelves. There were even moments when essentials like flour, vanilla essence, baking powder, cream cheese and whipped cream were scarce! As the country emerged from the lockdown in Phase Two and the dessert stores reopened, some have put away their aprons and whisks. But this trend is not going away — especially since we now see more small home baking businesses popping up around the island.

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These were uncertain times as we watched the number of Covid-19 cases rise. On some days, the numbers even hit an alarming four figures. We stayed indoors and went out only for a walk around our neighbourhoods just for exercise. Hey, even a trip to the grocery store was a treat! Friends and family got creative as we planned to meet on social networking app Houseparty in the evenings. This face-to-face social network allowed us to connect with each other. We toasted to better times as we ordered food for each other as we had virtual meals together. We even played cool online games together! A check on the Gov.sg app showed that as of Dec 9, the Ministry of Health has confirmed an additional six cases of Covid-19 infection in Singapore. All of the cases were imported. If nothing else, the low numbers is proof that the strict measures work.

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It is no wonder takeaway food became the star performer during the circuit breaker as orders kept pouring in. From fine-dining restaurants to hawker stalls, food delivery services mushroomed. An online survey conducted by the National University of Singapore showed that food delivery rose by almost a fifth per week when lockdown measures were in place and there was a 73% surge in delivered meals. One thing is clear: Post-Covid-19, the trend is here to stay.

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For the numerous other incidents that happened in the lead up to the elections, social media had it covered. One notable instance was Raeesah Khan’s race-related Facebook post, made in February 2018 and May this year. It generated controversy and two police reports were filed against her. The WP candidate — and now Member of Parliament for Sengkang group representation constituency (GRC) — was later given a stern warning by the police for promoting animosity between racial groups. She has since apologised. In the end, the ruling PAP won 83 of the 93 seats in Parliament, with just over 61% of the popular vote. Meanwhile, WP retained Aljunied GRC and Hougang constituency and won Sengkang GRC after the results were tallied.

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Several gyms and fitness studios took to the internet to post workout videos and blog posts on diets for their customers, while reaching out to newer ones. Some of the top home workouts this year included yoga and high intensity interval training (HIIT). Some fitness studios, like spin cycle studio Revolution, have even rented out their bikes, while providing those who rent with access to online classes with their instructors. Fitness brands like Nike and Adidas have also made their mobile app available for free to allow people to learn how to keep fit at home. Meanwhile, individuals were urged to exercise alone and only in their immediate neighbourhoods during the circuit breaker period. Park connector networks became popular exercise spots for people to jog, run and cycle.

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If you are a dab hand at cocktail mixes, the classic gin and tonic is always a soothing respite after a long work day. Alternatively, a fancier mix such as an English garden cocktail or a Christmas gin cocktail should not be too difficult to recreate either. Otherwise, look to cocktail deliveries and takeaways from establishments like Atlas Bar, Jigger & Pony and The Old Man Singapore. Also, Singapore Distillery has launched six unique gins with local flavours such as juniper, cloves, mandarin orange, Ceylon cinnamon, Cassia cinnamon grains of paradise, angelica root, and more for the Singa Gin. Stolen Roses Gin is a take on the Bandung drink and this is done by distilling a blend of roses with traditional gin botanicals and then rested with roses to pick up another layer of flavour as well as its lovely red colour.

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Apart from that, we faced new issues like “maskne”, or that condition where you breakout in acne because of the mask traps bacteria as we have it on for hours in a day. Many skincare companies have launched products to combat this — one example is Spa Esprit who introduced the Mask Avenger Facial, a non-invasive device that uses ultrasound that stimulates the facial muscles to promote lymphatic detoxification.

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As we get on with our lives with the lifting of the circuit breaker measures, it is still important to follow these few tips:
- Keep socially active — meet a friend for walks in the park, a meal or even a movie.
- Take an online course, such as baking or craft work.
- Stick to a healthy meal plan and do not forget that your health comes first.
- Stay away from the news (especially fake news) and listen or watch light-hearted movies.
- Enjoy your own “me-time”: Create a spa at home, a long warm bath, give yourself a facial or even create your own spa routine (loads of suggestions online).

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When the borders were closed, many foreign workers had to also make the horrible decision between keeping their jobs, or possibly being separated from their families for weeks or even months. Yet amidst the gloom, many who have lost their jobs emerged stronger from it, proving that the Singapore spirit never flags even during the darkest times. Among them were the thousands of Singapore Airlines (SIA) cabin crew who switched roles to become caregivers and frontline workers during the pandemic. Some 800 of SIA’s crew were deployed as care ambassadors, or transport ambassadors. Not only that, a group of SIA crew banded together to open up a bistro called Kevin Khoo, a cheeky take on the way ‘cabin crew’ is pronounced. Many Singaporeans too, turned to home-baking or home-based businesses after having lost their jobs. For example, ‘Eat My CB’ is the somewhat naughty name of the family-run, home-based curry bun (hence the CB) business started by the Lee family after they all lost their sources of income. Most of them were freelancers, including their 60-something-year-old parents. It was their mother, Annie’s, idea to start selling curry buns, and the family rallied together. Then you have those like 39-year-old entrepreneur Yvonne Chang, who started Gnomecooked as a side gig after her retail business was put on hold during the circuit breaker. She began selling her homemade dry laksa, seafood pasta and roasted crispy-skin pork.

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Learning online was a huge thing this year too. Even though countries are at different points in their Covid-19 infection rates, worldwide there are currently more than 1.2 billion children in 186 countries affected by school closures due to the pandemic, and they have turned to online learning to close the gaps. There has been no denying the huge surge in use of online EduTech, with investments reaching US$18.66 billion ($24.92 billion) in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach $350 billion by 2025, the investment is paying off. From language apps, virtual tutoring, video conferencing tools or online learning software, there has been a significant surge in usage since the Covid-19 outbreak. Platforms like edX also helped adults to learn new skills. It has a range of free online courses, from top universities such as Harvard, while learning platform Coursera has both free and subscription courses from the famed Wharton Business School. Learning new skills and gaining knowledge also helps beat the blues — it improves mental health, keeps the mind sharp and keeps Alzheimer’s at bay. It also helps to improve self-esteem and keep productive, especially for those who have lost their jobs.

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But staying at home means having less opportunities to dress up. So, the year saw a new trend: The rise of numerous loungewear collections that were stylish enough to be seen in public and comfortable enough to, well, lounge around at home. Think matching satin sets, boyfriend shirts or modern kimono robes — comfortable to wear but also respectable enough to put on for Zoom meetings. Besides, now that shopping for dresses and formalwear have become almost pointless considering the amount of time we actually spend outdoors, we foresee this becoming a regular staple in our wardrobes.

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Masks have also been so heavily politicised, especially in some countries. This is especially so in parts of the US, when some called using masks an attack on personal freedom and a sign of government overreach. There have even been protests held over measures involving these masks. But in the middle of a pandemic, one must remember that masks not only protect yourself, but also the people around you. As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo once said, “It’s not about me. It’s about we.”

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As we all stayed home, tuning in to the latest season of Money Heist or Peaky Blinders became more of a social event than ever before. Just like how friends and family gathered around a single black-and-white television set decades ago, web extensions like Netflix Party offer loved ones the chance to watch shows together, at least virtually. For half an hour each time, we could pretend things were back to normal — or that the pandemic had never existed at all.

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Lazada says the period saw increased purchases of beauty products, electronics and home appliances. Many thought the buying sentiment would be lower due to the current conditions. Not so, as many seem to be is redirecting their travelling budget to shopping, especially as borders remain closed. The recent 11.11 Singles’ Day sale on Nov 11 and Black Friday online events on Nov 27 were hugely popular. The 11.11 sale on Lazada saw several all-time highs — the online marketplace took just 10 seconds to reach $11 million in sales, for example. It also took Lazada just 17 hours to exceed last year’s sales. This year’s 11.11 also saw more than 150% increase in sales compared to last year, with the platform selling over 16,000 items per minute in the first 11 minutes of the sale event. Brick-and-mortar retailers may complain about the disruption of online shopping platforms on their business. But clearly, a digital shift is crucial to survival — especially as consumers continue to stay home because of the pandemic.

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With pyjamas, you can afford to reveal your personality in any way, shape, or form as no one — but your nearest and dearest — will see what you are wearing just before you go to bed. There are a few types of pyjama styles and materials too – from the classic flannel pyjama, print sets, terry robes, luxurious satin pyjamas and the nightie. If you ever feel the need to justify your purchases, remind yourself that you are bound to need variety if you have been flitting from pyjama to pyjama on a daily basis. Right?

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But did you know that the QR code was invented as early as 25 years ago, and was living in the tech wilderness for years (almost as a joke in the tech world) until the advent of WeChat, and the Snapcode? In 1994, Denso Wave, then a division of Japanese automotive manufacturers Denso Corporation, announced the release of its QR Code. Developed by engineer Masahiro Hara, the QR stands for ‘quick response’ — the premise of the QR code was to be significantly faster and hold more information than your standard horizontal barcode. While the barcode holds information horizontally, the QR code does so both horizontally and vertically, which enables the QR code to hold over a hundred times more information. However, the anonymity of QR codes — you would not know what the code will lead you to until you’ve scanned it — led to several rather high-profile mishaps. Take for instance the PR gaffe by Heinz in 2015. A customer had scanned what he thought was a QR Code that would lead to a promotion to design his own Heinz ketchup label. However, the website on which the promotion was hosted, had long expired and the promotion only ran between 2012 and 2014. When the customer scanned the QR on the back of his ketchup bottle, it led him to far saucier destinations, to put it lightly. What had happened was that a pornographic site had bought up the domain name (the website address) for itself, which meant that when the customer was redirected to the porn site instead of the Heinz promotional website. While still widely used in packing, manufacturing or logistics and freight industries, the QR code never truly took off until the hugely popular chat app WeChat started using it. Users of WeChat can add each other, share information and more, just by scanning their QR codes with their cameras. It has definitely gone through a resurgence since then, and as more phone makers finally started to enable cameras to natively scan QR codes, it has become far easier to scan the code compared to before, when you would need an app to read the code.

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It was indeed rough times for these attractions when the eight-week “circuit breaker” forced a shutdown of all their operations. However, when the nation entered Phase Two in June, everyone heaved a sigh of relief as attractions were allowed to open again, albeit with crowd restrictions and strict hygiene and cleaning requirements. Since reopening, crowds have begun to flock back to these attractions, which are usually packed to the brim with tourists. Now, with no more tourists coming in, local residents are taking advantage of it to rediscover what Singapore has to offer, and to enjoy these venues without the heaving crowds. From Gardens by the Bay to the Jurong Bird Park, the government also moved quickly to drive crowds back by giving all Singaporeans above 18 years old SingapoRediscovers vouchers (worth $100) to be used at attractions and hotels (for staycations). The Singapore Tourism Board has, in fact, set aside $320 million in credits through these vouchers to encourage Singaporeans to rediscover their city, and support local businesses.

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It does not take an expert to say that Covid-19 has devastated lives and livelihoods — the World Health Organisation states that fear, worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats, and at times when we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. So it is normal and understandable that people are experiencing fear in the context of the pandemic. Added to the fear of contracting the virus are the significant changes to our daily lives, our movements are also restricted in support of efforts to contain and slow down the spread of the virus. And, faced with new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of children, and lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it is more important than ever that we look after our mental and physical health. This has given rise to a concerted effort, most prominently over social media, on self-care and how to get through the anxiety. The hashtag #selfcare alone now has 38.8 million posts on Instagram, and ‘self-care’ was one of the most-searched words on Google this year. In fact, Google Trends showed that there was a massive uptick in the rise of searches related to anxiety, panic attacks, and treatments for panic attacks. Even as we now have a glimmer of hope in the form of a vaccine, self-care is still paramount. It is crucial to carry on as much of our daily routine as possible, to get good sleep and exercise frequently while maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

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In just three years, TikTok has amassed more than two billion downloads, inspiring a slew of knockoffs from incumbent social media giants. For example, Instagram premiered the short-form video platform Reels in August, while Snapchat launched Spotlight late last month. But what is getting its competitors all worked up? In September, TikTok logged 53.5 million weekly average users in the US, making one in six US residents an active user on the app. According to mobile analytics firm App Annie, that meteoric rise is a staggering 75% growth year-to-date. As a subsidiary of the China-based ByteDance, TikTok even had to fend off an attempt by the Trump administration to ban the app unless Microsoft could acquire it. Even legacy news outlets are trying to get onboard the TikTok bandwagon to reach its largely Generation Z audience. To reach the readers of tomorrow — while disguising itself to fit the light-hearted tone of the app — Washington Post shed its glum ‘democracy dies in darkness’ tagline, swapping it out for a simple, yet painfully self-aware bio that reads ‘We are a newspaper’.

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More acts of kindness came pouring in, even from university students. From running a bee hoon stall, to raising $100,000 to feed underprivileged communities. Nanyang Technological University (NTU) students Ye Anran, Sheila Lim, Zechary Hoe and Lee Ray Sheng did their part to get food to those who need it most. Working with charitable organisation Food Bank SG, industrial kitchens and other charities, the four friends cooked and prepared meals to be distributed to low-income and needy communities. Then you have Project Stable Staples (PSS), led by David Hoe and Francesca Wah, who support over 1,000 individuals from 215 families in rental communities impacted by Covid-19 and are suffering from income losses during the circuit breaker. The families are given $5 worth of grocery vouchers (per household member) fortnightly, to help them purchase basic staple foods. Food insecurity was certainly something Singaporeans fought to combat, including the founders of the Majulah Movement Andre Cherbonnier and Paul Foster. Together, the duo set up a platform that helps people donate meals and food packs to the needy. To date, over 3,000 meals have been donated, and over 1500 packs of food.

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A cure is on the way, however. It was reported that trailers loaded with containers of Covid-19 vaccine left Pfizer’s manufacturing facility in the US state of Michigan on Dec 13. According to Reuters, US regulators have authorised the vaccine from Pfizer and partner BioNTech for use, with US marshals accompanying the tightly secured shipments from factory to its final destination. Covid-19 vaccinations are also under way in some countries. There is also good news for Singapore: On Dec 14, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in the Republic. The first shipment should arrive by the end of December.

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Fraser Hospitality took it one step further with its ‘Reno-Vacation’ package, targeted at those looking for a respite from construction-related noises at home while working remotely. With a minimum booking of seven nights’ stay, guests get to pick from residences at Fraser Suites Singapore, Fraser Residence Orchard and Fraser Place Robertson Walk. While the rapid digitalisation remains a silver lining in this difficult year, some employees are complaining of burnout. Without a proper line drawn between the home and workplace, some may find themselves working longer hours than before. If flexible work arrangements are to be the norm, achieving a healthy work-life balance — and a clear demarcation between the two — will be crucial to the future of work.

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A survey from Mental Health America of 1,119 healthcare workers showed that they are stressed out and stretched too thin — 93% were experiencing stress, 86% reported experiencing anxiety, 77% reported frustration, 76% reported exhaustion and burnout, while 75% said they were overwhelmed. Across the world, healthcare workers are fatigued and increasingly isolated from their family members, many whom they’ve not seen for months. Many are leaving the healthcare industry due to exhaustion and burnout, leaving hospitals even more short-staffed. In Sweden, their intensive care units are facing severe staff shortage, with as many as 500 healthcare workers a month. In Singapore, a study published in the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) showed that among 3,075 responses, 79.7% and 75.3% of respondents met the ‘burnout’ thresholds for disengagement and exhaustion respectively. Yet, they have kept soldiering on and inspire us every day with their dedication and courage.

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Online yoga classes sprung up seemingly overnight as physical yoga studios shuttered, while many turned towards teaching virtual private classes. And no wonder, because yoga has been shown to be hugely beneficial to physical and mental health. A new study has found that movement-based yoga is likely to improve mental health during the Covid-19 crisis. Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the study was done by researchers from the University of South Australia in partnership with the Federal University of Santa Maria, UNSW Sydney, King’s College London and Western Sydney University. The study proposed that movement-based yoga — the practise of asanas or poses —improved mental health of people living with a range of mental disorders, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and major depression, with benefits being incremental with the amount of yoga they practised. So roll out your yoga mats, and perhaps try a quick 30-minute beginner yoga class online — you will be surprised at how much and how quickly it will improve your mood.

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Given its ubiquity, it is perhaps not surprising that Zoom experienced exceptional growth this year. For those who were fortunate enough to put some money in the stock, its share price had jumped from US$68 ($91) on Jan 2 to a high of US$568 on Oct 19.