Prime Minister for Testing, Monitoring and Vaccination

Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore’s Prime Minister.

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SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday that the country’s Covid restrictions could be eased after June 13 if the situation improves.

“Aside from another super-spreader or large cluster, we should be on track to get this outbreak under control,” he said in a televised address.

“If our situation continues to improve and the number of cases in the community continues to decline, we should be able to relax restrictions after June 13,” he said.

The Southeast Asian nation saw the number of local coronavirus infections spike in April and imposed stricter measures twice in May to contain the spread of the virus.

Beginning May 8, Singapore extended quarantine for overseas travelers, closing gyms and restricting social gatherings to groups of five.

She later announced a ban on eating, limited public gatherings for groups of two, and said all workers who can work from home must do so from May 16 to June 13. At that point, the government announced it would review the two measures weeks later.

The surge in cases also delayed the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble further.

The Singapore government last week warned of “heightened uncertainties” in the coming months due to the pandemic, but maintained its growth forecast for 2021 at 4% to 6%. 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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