It is almost exactly a year since the world first came face to face with the Covid-19 virus that launched this century's pandemic, which is also almost exactly a century from the last pandemic the world had previously known.
The difference between this year and last is that when we celebrated Chinese New Year (CNY) a year ago, we only had an inkling that a new pandemic was taking shape.
It was still very much the pre-pandemic normal then, with Malaysians celebrating the festivity as they have always done, with the usual fanfare, family reunions and open houses.
With most of the country in the midst of a second Movement Control Order, this means the CNY celebrations this time are anything but as they have always been.
Standard operating procedures (SOP) necessitated by physical distancing requirements mean that big social gatherings, be they family reunions or friends visiting, are out of the question.
Even as most Malaysians down tools to commemorate this happy annual celebration, the virus will not be taking a break, much less a holiday.
Customs and traditions will have to take a backseat as we make accommodations and come to terms with this new, deadly reality confronting all humanity.
Which is exactly why the public outcry over the CNY SOP is so needless and even uncalled for.
Even more regrettable is the mocking that the government had to endure over them.
The Chinese, as a community and generally speaking, are said to be notable for being practical about most things and to have almost a natural affinity to prioritising the common good over individual needs.
This pandemic, it goes without saying, demands a lot from all of us, as individuals, as a group, as a nation and as a global community of nations.
Is it just this particular virus or just this particular juncture in human history where advances in communications technology (among other advances) have turned this into a globalised village that has made the consequences of this pandemic so hideously demonic?
As if the deaths, illnesses and all other forms of destruction all round are not bad enough, social fissures are reopened and prised much deeper.
Same goes for the political cleavages existing in any society.
In the economic sphere, disparities and imbalances have only become more pronounced.
There are also religious and cultural differences thrown asunder under the weight of adjusting (or not, as the case may be) to the manifold demands the virus is imposing on us.
The imperatives of national cohesion, in particular, need to be prioritised and re-emphasised during moments of grave peril, such as now.
Especially in our own case, with our colourful and motley mix of race, creed and political outlooks, such imperatives become even more a matter of life or death now than during ordinary or normal times.
I am struck by a recent news report about how the death of a religious luminary in Israel brought a mass gathering of some 20,000 Orthodox Jews out for his funeral amid a general lockdown.
This has generated a ground-swell of resentment from more numerous and secular-minded Israelis over the sway more religious and therefore more politically conservative citizens have over the unstable Israeli government.
This may have significant political ramifications for another national polls the country faces next month.
And we are talking here about a relatively homogeneous Jewish state, so very different from ours with our mind-boggling diversity.
We, too, are buffeted by some political uncertainty at a time of much pandemic-induced anxiety.
The hoped-for political moratorium that an emergency is partly aimed at has been sadly elusive.
The pandemic, above everything else, calls for collective and individual acts of sacrifice by all of us.
Such acts must include forbearance in accepting that even cultural or religious celebrations such as CNY will have to be tempered, voluntarily as much as possible, as health strictures dictate.
The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times