As the global pandemic escalates and thousands of Singaporeans flock home, some living abroad have chosen to remain where they are, including in the United States - which now has the highest number of confirmed cases worldwide.

The Sunday Times spoke to several overseas-based Singaporeans on the phone last Thursday and all acknowledge that they might be safer in Singapore as they believe the Republic is handling the outbreak far better than the US.

But they are staying put for personal and professional reasons - and some are turning to foods from home, such as Khong Guan biscuits, for comfort.

Dr Wee Hong Ling, a ceramic artist, has not left her New York City apartment since March 16.

To slow the spread of the virus, residents of New York state - the hardest hit in the US with more than 43,000 diagnosed cases - have been ordered to stay home since March 22. New Yorkers were slow to react and public places like Central Park were still packed on March 21, says Dr Wee, 52.

But she was more cautious - especially "when I saw older Chinese people in Chinatown buying big bags of rice". "I thought, 'What is it they know that we don't yet?'"

A US permanent resident who has been in New York for 28 years, she then began stocking up too - and the first things she grabbed were Khong Guan cream crackers and Indomie instant noodles.

"In a state of stress, you think, 'What can give me some comfort?' So I bought things that felt like home," says Dr Wee, who is single and lives alone.

She has been heartened by frequent e-mails sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to overseas Singaporeans who have registered on its website.

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These contain information about everything from booking flights home during the pandemic to contact details for the nearest embassy.

"Our country is looking out for us," says the artist, who remembers the New York embassy being "the first to contact me (after) the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - to make sure I was alive".

Still, she "wrestled with the decision of whether to stay or go", especially as she has an 87-year-old mother in Singapore.

"I was so torn. But both places are home to me," she says.

Also in New York are Ms Hui Ng, a financial services sales executive, and Mr Koh Jee Leong, a poet and school teacher.

Ms Ng, 38, has worked there for two years and considered returning to Singapore - especially when she saw an MFA alert urging citizens to make travel plans quickly if they wanted to go home.

The biggest pull factors: her family in Singapore and her belief that she would receive better healthcare in the Republic - especially given predictions of a shortage of hospital beds and ventilators in the US.

But she is staying calm and thinks sensible precautions should keep her healthy. "Also, I have a pet cat (and) I didn't want to leave him here," says Ms Ng, who is also single. "If I didn't have him, I might have gone to Singapore."

Mr Koh has lived in New York since moving there to do his master's degree in 2003, and he is also staying put because of work and personal ties. He, too, sees that "the Singapore Government has the situation under control while the US government seems to be floundering in its response to the pandemic".

"So I understand why many Singaporeans would choose to go back."

"But my job is here, my life is here," says the 50-year-old, who has an American partner.

"There are people who are going to stick it out here and I'm going to stick it out with them, even though I feel very strongly about being Singaporean and feel for what is happening back home."

Living in a less populous part of the US are two Singaporean academics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro: Dr Edna Tan, 46, and a professor of science education, and her husband, Mr Gary Lim, a 45-year-old lecturer in the English department.

The couple have been in the US since 2009 and their two children were born there.

Dr Tan notes that the US response has been "a lot more chaotic" than Singapore's "impressive" approach to it. Yet, her family has no plans to go back to Singapore. "Our professional responsibilities are here and our children are here," she says.

"So we can't just up and leave."