“This is an unprecedented crisis and so we deliberated over this carefully and the task force has decided we need to put in place these measures in order to keep our borders safe to limit the number of new imported cases.”

The latter move came as a shock to Singapore, which relies on its northern neighbour for food supplies and workers to provide essential services. Both sides have agreed the partial lockdown will not affect the flow of goods and cargo, however, with efforts being made to house Malaysian workers temporarily in Singapore.

Singapore’s health ministry did not specify when its travel ban would expire, but Wong said that authorities are closely watching how the global situation evolves.

“No one will know how long this current wave of imported cases that we are experiencing will last for. [It] depends on how long the outbreak is going to be in Europe and America, which are now the new epicentres of the virus outbreak,” he said.

“For every visitor that comes through, for every work pass holder that comes through, they take up resources. They take up enforcement resources … to enforce the 14-day [period of] self-isolation, and if one were to fall sick, they take up medical resources,” he said.

Even though the ongoing pandemic has put a strain on Singapore’s health care system, authorities in the city state have promised to treat all citizens who test positive for the virus, with all hospitals and private specialist clinics ordered not to take any more appointments from non-resident foreigners, according to an internal health ministry memo on Thursday seen by This Week In Asia.

Jeremy Lim, co-director of the Global Health Programme at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, described the city state’s new ban on tourists as part of its incremental, measured approach.

“Singapore has a very wide repertoire of options because the government is pretty efficient. It has the option to roll out [measures] almost on a daily basis if it needs to,” he said.

Sunday’s move shows that local transmission of the virus in Singapore was “still manageable”, Lim said, pointing to how it will help reduce pressure on the health care system and cut the number of imported cases.

Aggressive tracing, lessons from Sars: a look at Singapore’s coronavirus fight

He stressed, however, that an economic rescue package for tourism-related businesses was necessary in light of the ban.

“Without that, the restaurants [and] retailers will have no choice but to keep launching promotions. I would certainly hope that the economic rescue comes out quickly because without assuring businesses, we cannot expect retailers and [food and beverage] outlets to be fully cooperative,” he said.

Singapore’s government is readying a second round of economic stimulus to help small and medium-sized enterprises, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said earlier. The first round of S$6.4 billion (US$4.5 billion) announced last month comprised S$800 million for health care, S$4 billion for businesses and workers, and another S$1.6 billion to help tide households over.

Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private Banking, said he expected the new financial package, which could come as early as next week, to address the economic fallout from the ban on tourists.

“[The package] will try to keep the wheel of the economy going, [which] requires people to be getting on with their daily lives as much as possible,” he said, adding that he expected it to be bigger than the S$20.5 billion package that Singapore introduced after the 2008 global financial crisis.

Song described the current crisis as the worst “in Singapore’s history and for the world, probably stretching back to the second world war”.

“Business confidence has been significantly affected so restoring that confidence becomes particularly important,” he said.

A poll by the Singapore Business Federation on March 13 of 188 mostly small and medium enterprises found that 87 per cent expected the pandemic to “moderately impact” their business plans, while 86 per cent indicated that they were ready to ride out the crisis for at least six months.

Most had hoped for greater government support in the form of tax rebates, help with wage costs and assistance with workforce challenges.