A senior Queensland doctor is concerned the state's hospital system is not equipped to handle the peak of a coronavirus outbreak.

Key points: Several other senior doctors in the public health system all agree with Dr Frances Ware's concerns

Several other senior doctors in the public health system all agree with Dr Frances Ware's concerns Dr Ware says she is confused as to why tougher measures are not being deployed to stop the spread of the virus

Dr Ware says she is confused as to why tougher measures are not being deployed to stop the spread of the virus A Queensland Health spokesman says it stood by the planning and organisation ahead further cases in the state

Francis Ware, a senior anaesthetist at the Queensland Children's Hospital in Brisbane, has called for people to take initiative and start social distancing now, rather than wait for the official advice from the Government.

There are now 46 confirmed cases in Queensland, including federal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

The Queensland numbers rose by 11 on Saturday, the state's highest jump in a single day to date.

The University of Queensland said a third student had tested positive, and contact tracing was being undertaken to identify third-year psychology students who may have been exposed.

Queensland Health predicts one in four Australians will eventually contract the virus and Dr Ware argues there would not be enough medical staff, beds and masks to treat 25 per cent of the population.

The ABC has spoken to several other senior doctors in the public health system who agree with Dr Ware's concerns.

'We can't do this'

Dr Ware said there would be no capacity to treat other medical needs when an outbreak occurs.

"Every single hospital bed in Queensland — including psychiatry beds, obstetric beds, and day surgery beds — would have to be used for COVID-19," Dr Ware said.

She said she was not confident appropriate measures were being taken to combat the spread of the virus.

"We can't do this — no matter how much planning we do, because Queensland hospital beds are filled up with non-COVID patients at the moment," she said.

"We're not going to stop requiring care for appendicitis, heart attacks, babies."

Dr Ware also raised concerns over medical staffing, arguing the inevitability of staff getting sick meant fewer hospital beds would be in operation.

"More staff will be staying home to look after family members who are ill, and they will have to stay home because they will likely be carrying the virus," she said.

"They'll also be looking after children who are home from school, because schools will be closed as well — reduced staff means reduced hospital beds."

'Every hour counts'

Dr Ware said she believed stopping the spread now would alleviate pressure on hospital systems down the track.

"We desperately need to stop the spread of this virus in our community," she said.

"Just going home when you're sick will not stop the spread of the virus.

"We desperately need to stop the spread by stringent social distancing now to avoid an Italy epidemic here. Every hour counts."

Dr Ware said her colleagues started to get nervous after COVID-19 spread to Italy, which has the highest number of cases outside China.

"Three weeks ago Italy thought it was a media hoax — one of their doctors said that — now you go over there and it's like a war zone," Dr Ware said.

She said she was confused as to why tougher measures were not being deployed to stop the spread of the virus, despite Queensland Health providing medical staff with data which suggests more than 20 per cent of the state's population could require hospitalisation.

"I can't understand why no-one has thought it through — I'm nervous for the whole system," she said.

"The data is all there —we know people need to start socially distancing themselves now."

Queensland's chief health officer, Jeannette Young, was not available to speak to the ABC today, but a Queensland Health spokesman said the department stood by its planning and organisation ahead of further cases in Queensland.

The spokesman said Queensland Health was well prepared and resourced to cope with increasing numbers of cases.

Situation is very fluid

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said he expected there would be more people diagnosed with coronavirus in the state today.

Mr Miles said now was the time for businesses, where possible, to start looking at getting staff to work from home.

"That's certainly what we're doing in my office, at the senior levels of Queensland Health, to … make sure we're prepared for what we do if and when our key people in our operation get sick," he said.

Mr Miles said the situation was very fluid.

"We will do an update on cases overnight later in the day," he said.

"I understood there were two University of Queensland students currently but that number — all those numbers — change as we get test results back."