The pandemic of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) is one of the most serious health crises in the past 100 years. As of April 25th 2020, there were approximately 2.83 million diagnosed people worldwide, 806,894 cured people, and 192,297 deaths. This pandemic causes a major impact on the global economy and is a major and unusual challenge for many of us. In this dual crisis in both health and economy, we are deeply grateful for the great humanitarian actions of the health workers and for the generous support see in our community. We believe that by helping each other out, we will emerge on the side of the crisis to become better and stronger.
 
It is now a time to think about what we could do to make the best of the worst, so that we as a community will do better. As a civil group, we contribute to our community by building and constructing various infrastructures, houses and facilities that connect and shelter people and businesses. Our work adds to the wealth and capital stock of our community and underpins the productivity improvements that are necessary to support our future prosperity and incomes. In Australia, nationwide, construction industry also makes a great contribution to the prosperity of our community as it is a significant driver of economic activity in Australia. It is Australia's third largest industry, behind only mining and finance, and produces around 8% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in value added terms. It directly employs over one million people (around 9% of the total workforce). Many families have a parent, a son, or a daughter working in this industry.
 
Although COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis, the silver lining in it is that it is a chance to invest in our essential infrastructure for future growth. It is opportunity for us to solve longer term housing demand issues and to tackle urban connectivity constraints. During normal times, infrastructure investment is costly because construction activities may interrupt usual businesses and activities. Currently much of Australia's economy is hibernating, and we have a chance to reduce the impacts of civil project delivery on businesses, and thus can deliver our work at the lowest possible social cost.  
 
Therefore, we warmly welcome the recent decisions and plans by various state governments to support major infrastructure projects including public transport link, school facilities, and public facilities. These new infrastructures will translate into higher living standards and greater economic dynamism in Australia. As a civil engineer group, we are ready and keen to contribute based on our wide-ranging expertise and deep commitment to timely delivery and quality work.
 
The challenges of COVID-19 are profound and broad, but we have the opportunity to use these challenges to usher in positive investments that will ultimately deliver better social and environmental outcomes. That way, we can be confident that we have made the best of a bad lot and can emerge strong and robust on the other side of the tunnel.