SMEs adapt to survive as Covid hit turns to long-term business risks in endemic

It's been over a year since pandemic started, and Singapore firms are facing new reality of the coronavirus being endemic

Published Mon, Jun 28, 2021 · 05:50 AM

Covid-19

Singapore

WHEN the first signs of a global pandemic emerged in early 2020, businesses in Singapore recalled their past experience with the Sars outbreak in 2003 and braced for possibly a few months of border closures and disruptions.

Few of them could have predicted that the impact would end up being far worse, with worldwide country lockdowns, manpower shortages due to shut borders, supply chain disruptions and month after month of restrictions on business operations.

More than a year on, Singapore firms are facing a new reality. The Covid-19 virus is no longer a short-term threat that can be contained or eradicated, even with the plethora of vaccines being rolled out.

Instead, it is expected to become endemic, and the current disruptions attributed to the pandemic will become …