Text Size: A+ One of Singapore’s top coronavirus cops, Lawrence Wong, gazed into the carefully separated audience at a premier convention center Monday and quipped that it was almost like old times. On the face of it, hardly anything is the same. Getting in the door required an onsite Covid-19 test and strict curbs prevented any mingling. Delegates masked up, even when asking questions. The coffee bar was off limits; gloved stewards brought drinks to you. The restrictions, while cumbersome, are essential. Without them, there would be no conferences, which restarted in a limited capacity in October. Absent that staple of the lodging and hospitality industry, it’s hard to see Singapore making good on forecasts for a muscular economic recovery. The government expects gross domestic product to rise as much as 6% this year after falling 5.8% in 2020, the worst performance in history.