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Sandra Johnson’s husband had already left for work by the time she talked to the National Post Thursday — early Friday morning where she lives in Singapore.

His office was open, and the expat from Mississauga, Ont., was herself planning to visit a nearby mall later. She had gone to the chiropractor the day before.

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The city-state of six million is an eastern Asian transportation hub and for a few days had the world’s second-highest number of COVID-19 cases. But its total stood at a modest 345 Friday, with no deaths.

And as Canadians hunker down in their homes or go on panic-buying sprees at the local grocery, life in Singapore motors on more or less as usual.

“I haven’t felt that I’ve been inconvenienced,” said Johnson, 51, who’s lived in Singapore since 1997. “Shops and restaurants are open … I’m able to go outside, I’m able to live my live pretty much normally right now.”

Photo by Handout

It’s not that residents there are acting recklessly in the face of the pandemic. On the contrary.