Liang Hui is a Singaporean Chinese, a white-collar elite who works at the Fortune global 500.He came to Singapore 25 years ago and experienced the SARS outbreak 17 years ago. He was shocked by the speed of novel Coronavirus and thought it was more serious than SARS.

My name is Liang Hui. I am 49 years old. I was born in China, born in Guangzhou, grew up in Guangzhou, and have been in Singapore for 25 years. At the beginning, I came here for accidental reasons to study, and then I felt that Singapore was very clean, the environment was very good, the people were obedient and the quality was relatively high, so I stayed.

Memories of SARS and the tense present

About 17 years ago, there was a virus called SARS. The situation was similar, except that it was not as serious in Singapore. I remember at that time, people didn't wear masks very much, because it didn't spread very much, still didn't close classes, didn't work from home, nothing. This time, the transmission of coronavirus is very strong, one careless may be infected, people are increasingly worried, new cases are more and more. And then there's more and more regulation in the country and in the region, and then there's an economic impact. What impressed me most was that at the beginning of the outbreak, When I went to every shop, I could no longer buy masks. The only way to get a mask is to go to a grocery store, but they're expensive and unreliable, which annoys me.

Novel Coronavirus had an impact on work

My work is also heavily influenced by the coronavirus. Just two weeks ago, there was a rumor in the company that a colleague was suspected of having COVID-19. His family was very nervous and our company said that everyone had to go home first and that the office had to be disinfected.

Beyond that, most of our business has been shut down and business travel has been postponed or cancelled. Although we don't wear masks, we check our body temperature every day at work and after work. There is a bottle of disinfectant in front of the elevator on each floor, so that we can disinfect our hands after pressing the elevator.

Try to keep at least six metres away from each other. Starting this Monday, March 23, 2020, everyone will be working from home, except for one or two who can't make it to the office.

Novel Coronavirus has an impact on life

During this time of the outbreak, the biggest change in my family was that we didn't go out much. All plans to eat out, shop, shop, shop have been cancelled. The old People's Daily life has also changed a lot. They are all afraid to go out, stay at home all the time, have a rest and watch TV. Even if sometimes to go downstairs for a walk, exercise, but also dare to walk to the pond side of the path, try not to touch other people.

My son and daughter still go to classes and extracurricular activities. They go to six cram schools every week, including English, math and sports. After all, they are not crowded places. They still go to school on weekdays. About 10 percent of my son's class would take time off, and in fact, at the beginning of the epidemic, I tried to ask them to take a day or two off, so that they would have less risk of exposure to the coronavirus. Although the school provided online courses for students who asked for leave, I was still afraid that my son's study would be affected if I missed too many classes, so I didn't ask for leave again.

In a word, the coronavirus impressed me so deeply that it spread all over the world in more than two months, which shocked and worried me a little. I hope my family and friends are in good health.

He turned on the air conditioner in the room his wife had arranged for him, sat down at his desk and opened his laptop to check email after email from the company.