Eight ships including seven cruise-liners will dock in Sydney over the next seven days amid fears they will contain hundreds of coronavirus patients.

New South Wales Opposition Leader Jodi McKay said all passengers and crew should be tested for the virus before they are allowed off - but Premier Gladys Berejiklian is yet to confirm this will happen.

On 19 March around 2,000 travellers were allowed to disembark the Ruby Princess in Sydney without being tested.

Since then, 133 of them have been diagnosed with coronavirus and one, a woman in her 70s, has died.

Cruise ship passengers disembark from the Princess Cruises owned Ruby Princess at Circular Quay in Sydney, Thursday, March 19

New South Wales Opposition Leader Jodi McKay said all passengers should be tested for the virus before they are allowed off

The coronavius toll in Australia as of 1pm on Tuesday

Cruise ships arriving in Sydney Carnival Spirit, Tuesday 2pm, Circular Quay Sea Princess, Wednesday 5.15am, Glebe Island Radiance of the Seas, Friday 5.15am, Circular Quay Ovation of the Seas, Friday 6.15am, Athol Bay Spectrum of the Seas, Saturday 9am, Athol Bay Voyager of the Seas, Monday 5.15am, Circular Quay Silver Muse, Tuesday 31 March 7.15am, White Bay Cruise Terminal Source: NSW Port Authority Advertisement

Cases linked to the ship have emerged in Tasmania, WA and the Northern Territory.

Passengers have been urged to go into self-isolation for 14 days after authorities failed to test them for coronavirus when disembarking.

The ships due in Sydney between now and March 31 include the Carnival Spirit which is docking at 2pm today after an eight-day round trip of New Caledonia, where there are four confirmed cases.

The ship can carry around 2,000 passengers and 1,000 crew.

Alongside the seven cruise ships, a carrier from SA is arriving on Thursday.

Daily Mail Australia has asked NSW Health what testing measures will be in place and is awaiting a response.

On Monday afternoon, the Prime Minister was accused of blaming New South Wales for the Ruby Princess debacle.

Asked about the ship during parliamentary question time on Monday, Scott Morrison said NSW health authorities allowed passengers to disembark.

'The chief health officer of NSW said this was a low risk,' Mr Morrison said.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said this was effectively blaming the NSW government.

'There's a pattern there of him blaming NSW and (Premier) Gladys Berejiklian's government,' Mr Albanese told reporters in Canberra.

'The truth is that the federal government are responsible for the entry into Australia.'

Ruby Princess belonging to cruise ship company Princess Cruises, departs Sydney Harbour with no passengers and only crew on board on 19 March

It comes after Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein vowed to turn away people who do not live in the state in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus.

He told visitors not to get the Trans Tasman ferry from Melbourne.

'As from today, if you are travelling to Tasmania and it's non-essential travel, do not come,' he said on Tuesday morning.

'Do not get on the TT Line. What we will do is turn you around and ask you to go back.'

Essential workers such as health professionals will be exempt from the ban.

The move means the state has the harshest border restrictions in Australia.

Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia are asking people who enter to self-isolate for two weeks.

New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT have no border restrictions.

On Monday afternoon, Health Minister Greg Hunt told Parliament that efforts are under way to double the number of intensive care beds and ventilators in the country amid fears hospitals will soon be overwhelmed.

Australia currently has around 2,500 ICU beds, only enough to cover 0.01 per cent of the population at once.

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 26,898 Victoria: 20,042 New South Wales: 4,200 Queensland: 1,152 Western Australia: 662 South Australia: 466 Tasmania: 230 Australian Capital Territory: 113 Northern Territory: 33 TOTAL CASES: 26,898 CURRENT ACTIVE CASES: 903 DEATHS: 849 Updated: 8.50 PM, 20 September, 2020 Advertisement

Mr Hunt said several Australian manufactures including medical company ResMed have offered to produce ventilators.

He also revealed that one million masks are being distributed around the nation - and there are 300million more on order.

There are also 1.5million testing kits, including finger prick tests, on order as the government acknowledges that testing is crucial to slowing the spread of the virus.

Australia's pubs, clubs, cafes, gyms and cinemas put up shutters on Monday as severe new restrictions to battle the coronavirus pandemic began.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced 'stage one' restrictions on Sunday night, ordering pubs and licensed premises close for six months.

The restrictions also covered places of worship, casinos, nightclubs and registered clubs while restaurants and cafes can operate only for takeaways and deliveries.

The drastic move put a thousands of Australians who work in hospitality and entertainment out of a job.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg estimated that 1million people in Australia will apply for benefits due to the coronavirus fallout.

Around 95,000 people tried to apply online for income support at once, causing the MyGov website to crash at 9.40am on Monday.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has vowed to turn away people who do not live in state. Pictured: Hobart

This was up from around 6,500 users at once last week.

Mr Morrison has doubled the jobseeker payment with an extra $550 a fortnight to support those who have lost their jobs.

He revealed that the Treasury advised him against adopting the UK government's drastic measure of paying 80 per cent of millions of workers' wages because it would take too long to implement.

On Monday afternoon, the NRL told almost all staff to take leave immediately as the league faces being shut down by border closures. Staff will take paid annual leave and can accrue negative leave. The AFL has already been called off.

Meanwhile, Minister for Industry Karen Andrews said hand sanitiser will be back on shelves soon, after several companies - including Shayne Warne's gin distillery - started making it to combat the high demand.