Pandemic makes us change

	Hanoi Customs ensures quick customs clearance of goods during Lunar New Year
	Customs guides penalties for administrative violations caused by Covid-19 pandemic

To prevent and fight this harmful virus, we have to change our habits in life, and it also makes us change the way we think, look at life and development.

Now, we no longer find it strange that a store or office forces customers to wear masks, disinfect, and measure their temperature before entering. It was almost unheard of anywhere in the years before the pandemic. Because in the past, when we talked to each other, or when greeting each other, wearing a mask was considered impolite.

There were many times we come across people who forgot to wear their masks, they were scolded or refused to answer because they considered it disrespectful to others.

But now when meeting people who do not wear masks, many people will avoid them, people who do not wear masks become stigmatized. The handshake is also changed and people create very happy and safe alternative rituals such as touching fists, touching elbows, kicking the toes of a shoe. The actions are different, but the meaning is unchanged, not only that, it also makes the two parties happier and more intimate.

In daily life, the pandemic has changed many things, in addition to the fact that we are less likely to go to places such as amusement parks, cinemas and gyms because of the ban as well as self-restriction, we also go out less, only to necessary places. During the peak of the pandemic, parks were closed, but when they reopened, not many people visited them. Although staying at home for a long time is difficult, everyone understands that it is necessary to protect themselves and the safety of the community.

We are no longer comfortable visiting each other in our free time, even neighbours no longer come to each other's houses as often as before. People use the internet to visit and chat more. Those who are sick or whose family has filial piety or happy occasion no longer blame someone for not visiting, but only calling to share.

A groom in Tu Son city (Bac Ninh) confided on the wedding day in the last days of the year that the wedding was set at the beginning of the year, but because of the pandemic, the family had to postpone the date to the end of the year. But at the end of the year, the locality still had outbreaks of the virus, so the family had to hold the wedding within certain restrictions. Many guests who were stuck at quarantine checkpoints or were afraid of infection did not attend, their families had to divide to welcome the guest who are close.

The wedding party was divided into four meals to reduce the concentration of people according to regulations and also to protect the health of guests. The tray was also changed such as no longer sharing bowls, teacups instead of disposable paper cups.

Online sales have never been as active as during the outbreak. Many people are distrustful when buying online, but in the face of social isolation, they have to accept it.

In times of isolation, people buy and sell online because it both meets the needs of life and minimizes contact. Thanks to this new method, even in the difficult and upsetting context, we have reduced the shortage of food, some shops still maintain a part of their sales, reducing the difficulty during the pandemic.

Digital technology also has an opportunity to develop, such as online banking, digital signature, online signing, online meeting.

Not only important meetings of the companies and businesses can meet online at many points, but global high-level online conferences also take place regularly. The concept of working remotely has become more popular.

Because of that, the rules of work and family activities also quickly changed. The situation of working online while looking after small children occurs in many families, the situation of adults and children holding phones and computers all day has become common.

If many families were strict to control every moment their children used their phones in the past, now they are reluctant to accept it because all school activities are on that device.

The pandemic sweeps the globe and is not over yet. It caused excruciating pain. In our country alone, the pandemic has claimed tens of thousands of lives. That's just the number. It cannot tell all the pain for each person, each family. Some children in Ho Chi Minh City were living a peaceful and full life, suddenly they lost both parents for a moment, and had to go back to their hometown to live with ailing grandparents.

Many families took their loved ones to hospital for Covid-19 treatment without being able to take care of them, then they quietly leave without being able to say their last words, their loved ones just quietly pick them up with a pot containing ashes.

A young couple with a small child went to Ho Chi Minh City to earn a living, after days of strict isolation, the city relaxed social distancing, the husband carried his small child and the urn of his wife's ashes.

The pain and loss make us appreciate life and peace more. It also gives us a better sense of the thin line between life and death. The spread of the pandemic also shows us that people around the world are closely related and interact with each other, but it is not possible to completely separate themselves from the community.

The severe consequences for people and property caused by Covid-19 are incalculable. From those losses, we have to recalculate many problems. It is a matter of investment in the health care system, especially basic health care; the problem of social security; the problem of social management.

On a global scale, the pandemic also makes us rethink the need to balance investment in health, for sustainable development with other fields; recognize and act more decisively on protecting the environment, protecting life and safety.