Singapore, for months hailed at home and overseas as the “gold standard” for responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, on Friday moved to defuse escalating criticism over how it has handled a surge in infections within foreign worker dormitories that activists had earlier flagged as public health risks due to their cramped conditions.Also weighing heavily on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s government were signs that a sizeable number of locals were not obeying tough “circuit breaker” measures –…