Sally Lean, a Mandarin language teacher currently based in Singapore, has told The Daily Advertiser she is shocked at the lack of seriousness - "or perhaps understanding" - toward the spread of COVID-19 virus.

"Maybe if people don't get it themselves, what about their friends and family members elsewhere," she said.

"What about when their ageing parent or grandparent gets turned down for use of a respirator because there are younger people who are deemed to be more 'viable'?

"The stories from China, Italy and Spain are heartbreaking. What about when they cannot attend a funeral of a loved one due to this devastating virus and situation? Then what? Too late to be cocky about it then."

Ms Lean said the school she worked in had introduced a raft of measures, including a period of online learning and temperature checking everyone on campus, to help stop the spread of the virus.

"As a long-term expat, I have survived SARS in Beijing, a revival of the H5N1 bird flu when I was living in Hong Kong in 2004-2006 and now the COVID-19 virus as I am living in Singapore," Ms Lean said.

"Having many friends in China and having my own WeChat account - which is the Chinese version of Facebook - I have been aware of the distressing developments there from the very early days.

"People on the ground were murmuring about it long before it got any major international press coverage."

Ms Lean said the virus arrived in Singapore early on, with the first cases being diagnosed around Chinese New Year from incoming visitors from Wuhan.

"In fact, I had Chinese New Year lunch with our elementary Chinese teaching team, including an assistant from my school whose parents in law who had come to stay from Wuhan and were diagnosed with the virus just a few days later," she said.

"I am fortunate and grateful to be in Singapore where the government has acted swiftly from the very beginning to stay ahead, or at least on top of, the evolving situation.

"I subscribed to a government site and we get two or three update text messages per day via WhatsApp with all the latest information from the government - from the latest diagnosed numbers to other messages to reassure the public such as requests for people not to panic buy and explanations about the supply lines and how much meat and grocery goods are stockpiled. It's been very reassuring."

Ms Lean's said her greatest personal worry was what would happen if her dad Alan Lean, a long-time Wagga resident, became ill.

"Normally we are reassured by me only being an overnight flight away, but now it's so scary to be isolated with no hope being able to get back,and even if I could then I would need to self-quarantine for 14 days," she said.