It could be months before Singapore reaches the third and final stage of its phased reopening, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong yesterday.

He noted that some restrictions - like the limit of five people for social gatherings - could be further eased during phase two. However, he also cautioned that "along the way, we might have to slow down or even tighten some restrictions" if necessary.

The long-awaited phase two of the country's reopening begins on Friday, nearly three weeks after the two-month circuit breaker ended on June 1.

In this phase, dining in will be allowed at restaurants, and sports facilities such as swimming complexes will open their doors again. Social gatherings of up to five people will be allowed, but people should still stay at least 1m apart from one another where possible.

Mr Wong said some of these rules could be relaxed later on in phase two - for example, having larger social gatherings, and re-opening venues such as libraries, museums and attractions.

"This could happen in a few weeks' time - they could start to reopen... but with strict limits in terms of the capacity of the number of people who can enter that venue," he said.

"Over time, we will increase the capacity limits as we continue to monitor and see the situation remaining stable."

"So we expect this process of review, monitoring, easing - hopefully it's easing because you never know along the way we might have to slow down or even tighten some restrictions - but we expect this process to continue for months before we reach phase three."

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force handling the pandemic with Mr Wong, made similar points.

"Maybe in two weeks, (or) in one month's time, if the number of cases remains stable, we may increase (the maximum size of a social gathering) to 10 persons, or a different number depending on the situation," he said.

On restrictions that remain on activities such as large gatherings and religious congregations, Mr Gan said the authorities are in discussions with these groups.

"When they are ready, when they are able to put in place safe-distancing measures, we will progressively allow them to start their operations," he added.

"We may allow (a) smaller scale, to start with, and over time we increase the scale for them to allow more people to join the events.

"This will progress as we go along, and eventually when we reach phase three, basically phase three is a steady state.

"By that time, we are probably going to hold that position in phase three for quite a long time until a vaccine is available."

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This article was adapted from The Straits Times