Tasmania is one of the last remaining jurisdictions in the country not to record any confirmed cases of coronavirus via community transmission.

Key points: Tasmania, NT and the ACT are the last remaining jurisdictions with no known cases of community transmission

Tasmania, NT and the ACT are the last remaining jurisdictions with no known cases of community transmission Researchers say there is a "mixed bag of people" who don't know whether to get tested or not

Researchers say there is a "mixed bag of people" who don't know whether to get tested or not They say social distancing is the best weapon against COVID-19

So why has Tasmania been spared and will it remain that way in coming months?

The ABC spoke with two experts in the spread of viruses and respiratory diseases to nut out the invisible threat of COVID-19 spreading in the community.

What is community transmission?

University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short said community transmission was when an individual was infected with the virus but they did not have a history of overseas travel or contact with other infected members in the community.

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"What that means is members of the community who are infected could be circulating that haven't been tagged as infected and that's where it becomes really, really problematic," she said.

"That's when it means we've missed cases of the virus and have transmission events happening that we haven't controlled."

Dr Short said while imported cases were "relatively easy to control" with proper checks and tracing, community transmission signalled a loss of control of the virus to varying degrees.

"It's a really concerning point. And certainly community transmission is not an ideal situation from an infection control perspective," she said.

Is Tasmania the only place with no cases of community transmission?

The short answer is no.

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Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT are the last remaining jurisdictions in the country with no known cases of community transmission.

But the head of the respiratory research group at the University of Tasmania in Launceston, Sukhwinder Sohal, said it was possible Tasmania had cases of community transmission health officials were not aware of.

Sukhwinder Sohal says it can be dangerous when community transmission goes undetected. ( Supplied )

"That's why it can be really dangerous because it often goes by undetected," Dr Sohal said.

"Since we're hitting the flu season now in Australia a lot of people might get confused thinking 'OK, I've got a sore throat, is it the flu or is it really coronavirus'," Dr Sohal said.

"So there will be a mixed bag of people who won't know whether to go for a test or not."

Dr Sohal called on the State Government to make testing more available, not just to those presenting with symptoms, to ensure the state had a more accurate snapshot of infected cases.

Dr Short agreed: "If you're only testing symptomatic individuals you could be missing cases.

"It's a blessing and a curse that this virus can cause mild and sometimes asymptomatic symptoms in individuals because it can make disease tracking very difficult," Dr Short said.

Has Tasmania been spared from the worst?

Dr Short says we don't know yet.

"Because this is such a new situation that's changing every day, we just have to wait and see," she said.

Tasmania was the first jurisdiction in the country to close its borders in a bid to limit the spread of the virus.

"We won't see the effects of border closures until 14 days after the border has closed because individuals may have come in and been incubating the virus without showing any symptoms," she said.

"So it's a bit of a wait-and-see approach. Unfortunately it's too difficult to predict."

Dr Sohal said Tasmania was an especially at-risk population because it had some of the highest smoking rates in the country. Smokers are especially vulnerable to respiratory infections.

"Smoking upregulates a special receptor which the COVID-19 virus actually binds to to get access to the airways," he said.

He said whether Tasmania was over the worst of it depended on people's ability to comply with government directives.

Simple, frequent daily hygiene practices can also make a huge difference in protecting people not only from coronavirus but also from the incoming flu season.

And it's not just a matter of depending on government measures.

"It's also about making lifestyle changes and every single person making an effort to try and combat this virus because that's what it's going to take," Dr Short said.

What do authorities say in Tasmania?

Both the State Government and health officials seem confident there will be no cases of community transmission.

When asked if it was inevitable in Tasmania, the director of public health, Mark Veitch said on Sunday: "It really reflects the global situation, it doesn't reflect transmission in Tasmania."

Meanwhile, Premier Peter Gutwein said there was no specific measure to be triggered by transmission of the virus in the community, but pre-empting it was crucial.

"There is no community transmission at this stage," he reiterated on Monday.

"We are not going to go through the farcical situation that we saw in Great Britain where last drinks brought hundreds of people together for one last night, which must have brought further spread of the virus in that country.

"Social distancing is our weapon."