We are a small open country, we have to deal with it as things go along, and we cannot afford to seal our borders off. Other bigger countries can, to a very great extent. For Singapore, you need food, fuel, people moving in and out, even during COVID-19. You have to do it to the extent that you can, while keeping ourselves safe with all the precautions, (such as) testing, contact tracing apps, protocols to make sure that people come in through proper procedures and are vetted, and so on. Not without risk, but unavoidable.
To open up completely again and have free travel, it is a long way off. Even travel bubbles – countries talk about it, but that needs confidence on both sides and we only want to bubble with countries which are safer than us. That means it is not easy to make a match.
- PM Lee on free air travel
Firstly, that you cannot afford to slacken. Each time you think you have got the COVID-19 situation under control, and you know how to respond to it, it pops up in a new direction. It can be a mutant, it can be a new avenue which you did not spot, but you cannot afford to slacken, and you must always think beyond what you imagine is likely to happen.
- PM Lee on the pandemic
Interview with PM Lee Hsien Loong at the inaugural Global Forum on Economic Recovery, hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce on 19 May 2021.
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