Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Singaporeans on Thursday to expect the coronavirus to continue for a year or may be longer as the city state faces a "serious situation" with a "possible spike" in new cases.
However, Lee assured the situation remains under control and Singapore will not raise its Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level to Red from the current Orange.
While Singapore has already imposed some travel restrictions, Lee said it will "have to tighten up further temporarily, though we cannot completely shut ourselves from the world".
Noting the World Health Organization's declaration of calling the virus outbreak as 'pandemic', Lee said COVID-19 is expected to "continue for sometime - a year, and maybe longer".
Despite Singapore having taken the situation with "utmost seriousness" and being held up by the WHO as an example to emulate, the country faces a "serious situation", said the Prime Minister in his televised address.
"We expect more imported cases and therefore new clusters and new waves of infection, this time coming from many countries rather than one or two," said Lee.
Emphasising that the situation in Singapore "remains under control", the prime minister said, "We are not locking down our city like the Chinese, South Koreans or Italians have done.
"What we are doing now is to plan ahead for some of the more stringent measures, try them out and prepare Singaporeans for when we actually need to implement them."
Meanwhile, beds, intensive care units and other hospital facilities are being freed up to create additional capacity to meet any surge in COVID-19 numbers, said Lee.
Lee said, "The issue is of course not religion itself, but that the virus can spread quickly to many people in crowded settings, like religious gatherings and services."
"I hope Singaporeans understand that during this period we may need to shorten religious services or reduce our attendance at such gatherings. Please work with your religious leaders to make these practical adjustments," he said.
He called on Singaporeans to practice good hygiene, adopt new social norms and discouraging large gatherings.
Separately, the Archbishop of Singapore said that Catholic masses here would remain suspended.
All mosques in Singapore are also being closed for at least five days from Friday for cleaning to prevent community spread through mosque activities, said the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore.
Singapore has 187 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, of which 96 cases have recovered and been discharged from hospital.
Nine coronavirus cases are in critical condition and in the intensive care unit, while 96 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital.
The health ministry confirmed nine new coronavirus cases on Thursday. Five of these are imported cases, infected overseas.
Two Singaporeans, considered as imported cases, have contracted COVID-19 after attending a religious event near the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur recently, Singapore's Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli confirmed on Thursday.
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