Religious communities around Australia are bracing for the spread of coronavirus, cancelling events and advising followers to take precautions.
Several faiths are aware that their and are acting before the outbreak worsens locally.
Australia's biggest Buddhist temple, the Nan Tien Temple in NSW's Wollongong, announced this week it was cancelling all classes, retreats and markets until further notice.
Director of the temple Miao You told SBS News the safety of visitors and devotees was her main priority.
A recent event at Wollongong's Nan Tien Temple. Source: Facebook - Nan Tien Temple.
"Everyone is concerned, so we want to take precautions, we don't want people to congregate ... Health is more important than anything else," Ms You said.
"Most people have understood why and think it's the right thing to do ... We hope it will calm down soon and then we can start again in maybe April, May or June, we don't know when."
Ms You said other temples that are also in the Fo Guang Shan order of Buddhism in Australia were taking similar measures.
She said she was advising followers against panic buying and instead focusing on personal hygiene.
"And we've been doing a lot of prayers and chanting for the people who are sick and those who have died [of coronavirus]."
Meanwhile, the Australian National Imams Council is relaying coronavirus advice to mosques across the country.
"We're urging people ... if they have a [health] concern, not to take a chance, not to attend mosques or other places of public gathering, " spokesperson Bilal Rauf told SBS News.
Mr Rauf said followers were being instructed on "practical measures to ensure cleanliness as well as avoiding areas where there may be some level of risk".
"But we also don't want to create any hysteria about it. We're trying to take a balanced approach, which factors and feeds in the advice of medical practitioners and the government," he said.
The Lakemba Mosque in Sydney. Source: AAP
"There is Ramadan coming up next month and that can involve congregational prayers in the evening - it will be a matter of leading up to it, understanding what the state of play is."
Mr Rauf also said that many Australian Muslims have been affected .
Around the Middle East, several Muslim countries are taking more severe measures to curb the virus.
In Iran, which has one of the highest numbers of coronavirus cases, Friday prayers have been cancelled in many cities.
But tensions and misinformation have emerged,
Christian communities internationally are also modifying their worship due to coronavirus.
The Archbishop of Paris has asked priests to change how they give communion - placing it in parishioner's hands instead of their mouths.
And churchgoers have been advised to stop the sign of peace ritual, which involves parishioners shaking hands.
Such measures are not being rolled out in Australian churches yet but there is concern that Easter, one of Christianity's biggest annual markers, is a matter of weeks away.
"At this stage, Easter services are going ahead as scheduled," a spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney told SBS News.
For the moment, Victoria's deputy chief health officer Annaliese van Diemen said all Australians should focus on personal hygiene.
A mass celebrated at Saint Francois Xavier church in Paris. Source: AAP
"The highest priorities at the moment are that you wash your hands regularly and thoroughly, particularly when they are visibly soiled," she said.
"Use alcohol hand rub if they are not visibly soiled. Cough into your elbow. Sneeze into your elbow. And try very hard to avoid touching your face, which, once you concentrate on it, is a very difficult thing to do."
There have been at least 40 cases of coronavirus in Australia and more than 90,000 worldwide.
Additional reporting by Sunil Awasthi
