When L left Singapore in the middle of March to visit her parents in Germany, she would never have guessed that she’d be away for quite so long. At that time, Singapore’s response to COVID-19 was still being hailed as an example for the world to follow, and there was little to suggest that this was going to change any time soon. The situation in Germany and other parts of Europe, though, looked worrying. With her mother recovering from a heart attack, L, as their only child, decided to go care for her elderly parents. She and her husband, a Singaporean citizen, thought she would be away for a month at most.