May Day this year has proved to be intensely sobering. It took place against the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak that has hit Singapore hard. Naturally, all minds are focused on the end of the circuit breaker period because of the tremendous economic and social pain it is causing all round.

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But this too will pass. And it is also necessary to look farther ahead at how the nation will fare even after the conclusion of this period. The post-Covid-19 world is an unknown unknown. Change, clearly, is unavoidable, but its nature and extent cannot be foretold.

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Yet it is possible to think ahead, especially given the significant number of changes that people and companies made in the home and social environment and in the work routine. The burst of activity online, delivery services, biotechnology, and studying at home present opportunities to do things in new ways. It gives scope for new enterprise and jobs.

The International Monetary Fund projects the steepest decline of global gross domestic product since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The impact on such a colossal scale on a small and globalised economy like Singapore can be severe. But it can also be mitigated. As before, Singapore will have to adapt and reinvent itself, shaping business and even society for the realities of a post-Covid-19 world. There is no point hankering for a return to the past. The status quo ante is gone.

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong underlined in his May Day message that there will likely be significant structural changes needed for the economy. There will be industrial disruption, changing business models and disappearing jobs. While the scale of displacement could be unprecedented, adapting and changing to challenging circumstances is in Singapore’s DNA. Falling back on that inheritance, the faster that people adapt, the less painful will the coming times be for them.