Yeah, it’s that episode.

For today’s Daily Markup, we summarized some of the differences between how Asia may go through Covid-19 from an economic standpoint, compared to its Western counterparts.

Asian thrift

• Will the Asian economy ride this out better than their Western counterparts?
• Disease outbreaks are not new to countries in Asia. In this CNBC report, the SARS epidemic in 2003 hit Hong Kong, Singapore, and China hard, plunging them into deep recessions.
• It could be a lesson learned because it’s got more companies with better cash positions:

• And, they also have less debt:

One can hope this bodes well for Asia!

A case of foreshadowing

• In November 2019, Netflix released ‘Explained: The Next Pandemic’, a 20 minute-long episode featuring Bill Gates.

• It spoke about how outbreaks work, and how ill-prepared humanity is to deal with a global outbreak.
• To think that only 5 months later, we are forced to deal with this question!

Unconventional advice on working remotely

• On paper, working remotely seems pretty self-explanatory. But for companies not accustomed to this practice, it feels like uncharted waters.
• GitLab’s Head of Remote recently shared some helpful tips with us on working remotely including how to go about onboarding new employees.
• There are plenty of tools to make the transition smoother too.

Knowledge is power

• We believe access to the right information is important at this time. Gnowbe, a microlearning platform based in Singapore, has launched two timely courses covering topics:
• Infection Control and Prevention 101
• Pandemic: Business As Usual

Stay tuned to tomorrow’s Daily Markup! You can also find us on our official website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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