SINGAPORE, Feb 12 — Even as the economy is bouncing back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and more are getting vaccinated, the country will have to live with Covid-19 in some form for “quite some time”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Chinese New Year visit to staff of Singapore Airlines and Changi General Hospital, Lee said that the economy is expected to rebound this year, though perhaps not yet to pre-pandemic levels.
While the economy contracted 5.8 per cent in 2020 overall — its worst full-year recession since independence — the Ministry of Trade and Industry has said that it expects growth to come in between 4 and 6 per cent this year.
“I’m not sure that even if we bounce back we’ll be able to get back beyond where we were in 2019, before Covid hit, but at least conditions will be progressively getting back to normal, provided our vaccinations progress, which we intend to, and provided in the developed countries, particularly the United States and Europe, their vaccinations progress and therefore their economies can also open up,” Lee said.
“In which case, we should be able to get much closer to normal. Other than transport, tourism and aviation — I think that will take quite some time — but the bulk of the economy should be able to recover.”
He added that he is “reasonably confident” that Singapore will be able to receive the vaccines it needs this year, despite reports of manufacturing disruptions delaying vaccine supplies around the world.
Last month, vaccine maker Pfizer reduced shipments to the US and Europe because it was making changes to its manufacturing processes, which it said were designed to boost production.
“First of all, for vaccinations, we have hedged our bets and we have ordered and pre-ordered vaccines from multiple suppliers so I hope that not all of them will get disrupted,” Lee said.
“There may be disruptions and delays along the way as we have seen earlier, but I think the flows look like they have a reasonable prospect of starting up and making good again, because you see Pfizer for example saying they’re going to restart their plant and then they’ll have expanded capacity. So I’m reasonably confident that we will get the vaccines that we need this year.”
But even as the economy recovers and more Singaporeans are vaccinated, Lee warned that it will be some time before life returns to pre-pandemic normalcy.
“Countries are very wary about restarting travel, and until a substantial portion of their populations are vaccinated and there’s some system for countries to know and verify who has been vaccinated and it’s safe to travel, I don’t think you can expect to go back to the days where you could just buy a ticket and go off to Bangkok or Hong Kong for a weekend, for some time to come. That would be several years, I would guess.”
Even within Singapore, he said, restrictions will have to remain for some time to come even when most residents are vaccinated, as there will still be some in the population who would not have been vaccinated and remain vulnerable.
He added: “Our borders will not be able to be completely closed, people have to travel. From time to time, cases will come in and we’ll have to deal with them. So we’ll have to move to living with Covid in some form for quite some time.
“But I hope it will be in a way in which more of the activities which are presently restricted can be eased and life will be somewhat more normal. But I do think we are getting used to this and we can keep it up for some time.”
Lee noted that the restrictions on gatherings and safe distancing measures have had a significant psychological cost: “What we do miss is first to be able to have that degree of human contact and interaction which human beings depend on.
“We are social creatures and we want to see people, we want to have friends, chat and not always be on guard — did I sanitise my hand or not, can I sit a little bit closer or not — it goes against all your normal instincts to hug somebody and be close to somebody.”
He added: “And the other one is sometimes you just want to let your hair down and have a fling, have a party. That’s why you have raves and beach parties. I think it’ll be sometime before we have raves and beach parties again, even with vaccines and vaccinations.”
Lee also urged Singaporeans to comply with safety measures and have a more subdued Chinese New Year celebration this year, adding: “There will be time to celebrate in a more carefree way later on.” — TODAY
