Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew will not be attending the annual Tanjong Pagar constituency Chinese New Year dinner on Tuesday night for the second consecutive year, as he is in hospital recovering from an infection.

Mr Lee, 90, has been hospitalised in Singapore General Hospital since Sunday with a fever and a bad cough caused by an infection, and is currently on antibiotics and recovering.

"He has been advised by his doctors to avoid public appearances. As such, he will not be able to attend the Tanjong Pagar GRC Chinese New Year Dinner this evening. He would like to wish all Tanjong Pagar residents as well as Singaporeans a Happy Chinese New Year," said his press secretary in a statement.

Mr Lee has kept up with his practice of attending the annual dinner over the years, during which he would make keynote speeches. But he missed the event last year for the first time due to health reasons.

At the 2012 dinner, he spoke about the challenge of increasing the country's population and hoped that Singaporeans would have more babies.