PM Lee: Covid-19 Not A Sprint But A Marathon

When Singaporeans found out that they would not be able to meet their friends or dine out even after the circuit breaker ended, they were not pleased.

Sure, more businesses would be allowed to reopen and people could meet their parents and grandparents, but Phase One of the safe reopening sounds very much like what we’re going through now.

But there’s a reason for this.

PM Lee: Covid-19 Not A Sprint But A Marathon

See, Covid-19 isn’t your standard crisis; it’s going to take more than a couple of months’ of sacrifice to effectively deal with it.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong emphasized this point in a Facebook post on Monday (1 June), where he urged residents to remain cautious and vigilant.

“Dealing with COVID-19 is a marathon, not a sprint”, he said. “…COVID-19 is far from defeated.”

Today (2 June), the much-detested circuit breaker has finally come to an end, and Phase 1 of the safe reopening has begun.

But we still need to keep our guard up, and continue with all the practices encouraged by medical experts, PM Lee says.

This includes maintaining safe distancing and good personal hygiene, wearing masks when outdoors and at work, washing your hands frequently, and avoiding crowds and gatherings.

“If we all do this, then life can go on more or less normally after the circuit breaker. We don’t want COVID-19 cases to spike up again, and be forced to tighten up once more”, he said.

This is something many people don’t appreciate. The circuit breaker has ended, yes, but restrictions on social gatherings are still in place because the authorities don’t want to implement another circuit breaker.

It’s bad for morale and the economy.

So if we really hate the circuit breaker as much as we say we do, we certainly wouldn’t want another one to be imposed on us, right?

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A New Normal

PM Lee also pointed out that we might have to get comfortable with the idea that life may not return to normal for a long, long time, even if we produce a vaccine.

“Even after a vaccine is found, everything will not simply go back to the way it was before. COVID-19 has exposed how vulnerable our way of life is.”

National Development Minister Lawrence Wong echoed this sentiment in a Money FM 89.3 radio interview, saying that Singaporeans will have to get used to a “new normal” was of living, and urged residents not to expect to go back to a pre-Covid-19 way of life.

“We should think of this as a new normal – a state which we can expect to remain until a vaccine or treatment is developed,” he said.

Reasons For Phased Approach

As Minister Wong said, reopening means that there will be more activities and human contact, which increases the risk of infection.

“That’s why we decided to implement a phased approach and not open the floodgates all at once”, he said.

“So please, please do not go out and have a big party.”

Thus, the phased approach to reopening is being used to protect both lives and livelihoods, the minister said.

In fact, the government is being so cautious that it’s “very uncertain” whether restrictions will be lifted in time for large crowds to gather for the F1 race in Singapore in September.

Earlier, Minister Wong said that authorities might choose to move to Phase 2 before the end of June if conditions are favourable.

Only One Battle Won

At the end of his post, the Prime Minister thanked Singaporeans for playing their part during the circuit breaker and urged Singaporeans not to undo all the efforts and sacrifices of our healthcare workers.

“I thank everyone again for playing your part so that we can now reopen safely. We must all keep at it together. Do not allow the sacrifices of our healthcare workers and others who have kept Singapore running to be in vain.”

The war against Covid-19 is simply not something we can rush. Many countries who have won several battles with the disease have discovered that it often comes back due to complacency.

The circuit breaker was just one tiny battle. There are several others to be won before we can claim victory.

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