Life trudges along, but hope springs eternal

The UAE has sprung back to life with precautionary measures, and residents have adopted the new normal by wearing masks and gloves, using hand sanitisers and practising social distancing.

Virendra Saklani/Gulf News

From all kinds of eateries, entertainment spaces, and high-end retailers, there is something for everyone and with lockdown measures being eased it won't be long before throngs of residents return.

Sharmila Dhal | UAE Editor

As residents grappled to make sense of the goings on and how they should respond, firm and informed decisions by the authorities made things easier. As business activities resumed and the UAE sprung back to life with clearly defined precautionary measures in place, residents slipped into a new normal. Wearing masks and gloves, using hand sanitisers and keeping social distance became the done thing; as was distance learning and working; offices and schools became used to a blended model of functioning, giving their students or employees a degree of choice and flexibility in how they wanted to operate.

Anas Thacharpadikkal/Gulf News

UAE residents have returned to the streets as life have become close to normal.

At malls and supermarkets, we just got used to someone pointing a temperature gun at our forehead before we entered; we also began to spend less, or not at all, on things that over the months had proved we could so easily do without. In any case, lower salaries, which also became commonplace across workplaces, left employees with no money to spare. Living with the virus also meant living on less. By now, our social lives had also gone virtual. We got accustomed to some degree of isolation, not undertaking any travel or even making plans with friends and family at the local level. We just learnt to keep in touch over telephone calls and Zoom gatherings. And thus, life trudged along. But at no point ever did we let our hopes die - hopes for an early breakthrough in finding a vaccine and a lasting cure to the calamitous coronavirus. We kept the faith that it was only a matter of time before our prayers would be answered.