Emotional preparedness among individuals and the community is key to ensuring that Singapore does not "fall off a sharp cliff" should the coronavirus outbreak take a turn for the worse.

This was a point made yesterday by Dr Shashi Jayakumar from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) forum on Singapore's response to Covid-19.

Streamed live on Facebook, the discussion moderated by IPS deputy director of research Gillian Koh touched on the economic, medical and social impact of the outbreak, as well as on social resilience.