With the spread of COVID-19 across the world in a matter of weeks and with the world under a state of lockdown, the future seems rather bleak. However, amid this confusion and chaos, the online world is still operational. Students are taking classes via video applications while professionals working in the corporate sector are completing their routine tasks through the miracles of digital technology. Truth be told, our societies shall never remain the same again. It is now a necessary action to wear a mask before stepping out of our homes. We carry a sanitizer with us and we need to remind ourselves not to shake hands or to touch another person. This was not the case earlier in 2020. Until mid-February, life in Pakistan was normal. We thought the news of the global pandemic would not hit us. We were wrong. By early March, all educational institutions were closed and teachers were conducting classes online. Corporations too had asked their employees to work from home. Times were changing and they did change quickly. As the numbers of those infected by Covid-19 and Covid-related deaths began to increase, people across Pakistan began to take this infection seriously. However, when people went out shopping before Eidul Fitr in May 2020, the infection rate augmented exponentially. The people of the world during the pandemics and epidemics of the past had to go through the new normal of their time Now we are in July. It is the fifth month since the metropolitan cities of Pakistan have been under lockdown in one form or the other. Whether there is a smart lockdown or a strict lockdown, the lives of people have changed. It is up to them to follow SOPs to keep themselves safe. This change in our lifestyle was something we had never thought would transpire in our lifetime. Pandemics and epidemics have spread globally in the past. In around 3000 BC a disease wiped out a village in China while in 430 BC an epidemic killed nearly 100,000 people in Athens. In 541 AD, the Plague of Justinian killed people in the Byzantine Empire. Many believe that it nearly wiped out 10% of the world’s population. The Black Death caused by the Bubonic Plague resulted in nearly 200 million deaths across Eurasia and North Africa from 1345 to 1353. The Cocoliztli epidemic (1548-1545) killed around 15 million people in Mexico and Central America. Between 1665 to 1666, nearly 100,000 people in London fell victim to the Great Plague of London. The Spanish Flu (1918 to 1920) resulted in nearly 500 million deaths. While the Asian Flu (1957-1958) killed one million people, the West African Ebola epidemic (2014-2016) caused over 11 thousand deaths. All of these pandemics and epidemics were spread due to various reasons. However, two factors remained the same. First, they caused unprecedented deaths and second, they changed the status quo. These infectious diseases did cause havoc. Those who were alive or did survive these pandemics would have considered it to be impossible to control the spread of these diseases. However, history claims that not only the infection was reduced and controlled; many of those infected by these diseases did survive. The societies that experienced such a dark period in their times did return to normalcy. The Covid-19 has spread at a time when the miracles of medical science have evolved. Unique medicines and medical procedures are being applied to cure diseases. The people of the world during the pandemics and epidemics of the past had to go through the new normal of their time. We have seen people wearing beaked-shaped masks during the spread of the Spanish Flu. With a global shift in perspectives on how to control the disease, we too would need to accept the ‘new normal’ that is upon us. Concepts of social distancing are new for us but they must be applied for our safety. The new normal entails using digital media to complete our tasks related to academics, research, and the ones related to our profession. People also prefer shopping and ordering food online now that shopping malls are closed or they operate only for a few hours. The restaurants only offer take-away food and the concept of hanging out is not applicable anymore. The new normal is here. We need to accept it and transfer our academic and professional activities online to blend in with the system. With or without the vaccination, the Covid-19 has changed how we looked at the world. It has changed our lives for good. The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist