Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore’s prime minister.
Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images
SINGAPORE — Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday that the country’s Covid restrictions may be relaxed after June 13 if the situation improves.
“Barring another super-spreader or big cluster, we should be on track to bring this outbreak under control,” he said in a televised address.
“If our situation continues to improve, and the number of community cases falls further, we should be able to relax the restrictions after 13 June,” he said.
The Southeast Asian nation saw the number of local coronavirus infections climb higher in April, and imposed tighter measures twice in May, to stem the spread of the virus.
Starting on May 8, Singapore lengthened quarantines for travelers arriving from overseas, closed indoor gyms and limited social gatherings to groups of five.
It later announced a ban on dine-in, capped public gatherings to groups of two, and said all workers who can work from home must do so from May 16 to June 13. At that time, the government said it would review the measures two weeks later.
The surge in cases also led to another delay of the travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong.
Singapore’s government last week warned of “heightened uncertainties” in the months ahead because of the pandemic, but maintained its growth forecast at 4% to 6% for 2021. The country’s economy grew 1.3% in the first quarter of 2021, the fastest pace in more than a year.
As of Sunday, the country reported 62,028 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 33 deaths from the disease.
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