As a funeral parlour operator, Ng Lie Cheng never really felt good when there's a sudden spike in her business. It usually only meant that a catastrophe had taken place somewhere.

And that was what happened lately - a sudden surge in the number of Covid-19 deaths have kept her business brisk.

"There was a spike in Covid-19 cases since December last year and January this year, especially this month. It is becoming very frequent now...