The Victorian Government has announced an elective surgery blitz ahead of the peak of the coronavirus pandemic which is expected in "only a few weeks", the state's Health Minister says.

Key points: The Government is spending $60 million on the elective surgery funding blitz and $30 million to open 140 new hospital beds at Casey Hospital

The Government is spending $60 million on the elective surgery funding blitz and $30 million to open 140 new hospital beds at Casey Hospital More than 7,000 elective surgery patients are expected to be treated

More than 7,000 elective surgery patients are expected to be treated The aim is to flatten the curve of the pandemic so hospitals are not overrun

The Andrews Government announced a $100 million package of initiatives to help the state flatten the peak of the health crisis so that hospitals were not overrun.

As part of the package, the Government is giving both public and private hospitals more than $60 million to undertake elective surgery for more than 7,000 "vulnerable" patients.

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the idea was to do the surgeries now to free up capacity in the hospital system before the number of people with COVID-19 grew.

"We know when the COVID-19 pandemic reaches its peak our hospitals are going to be busier than ever," she said.

"So it makes sense to get as many patients as possible into elective surgery now while we can."

New hospital beds will be opened at Casey Hospital to help cope with the expected demand. ( ABC News: Chris Le Page )

The Government is also spending an additional $30 million to commission the new Casey Hospital inpatient facility, opening an extra 140 hospital beds, including 12 intensive care beds.

"So this is significant additional funding, significant additional capacity for our health system getting in ahead of the influx of COVID-19 patients," she said.

The Minister said the blitz in both public and private hospitals would get underway soon with planning indicating the peak of the pandemic was "only a few weeks away."

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the aim was to free up hospital beds before the peak of the pandemic. ( ABC News: Ron Ekkel )

An additional $10 million will be spent on boosting personal protective equipment supplies including 100 million gloves, 10 million masks and 1.5 million gowns for health workers.

So far, 14,000 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Victoria with 57 positive results. That is an increase of eight cases from yesterday.

Premier Daniel Andrews urged people to stay home if they were sick.

"That's the right thing to do [staying at home]. Not needlessly infecting other people," he said.

"If people come to work with symptoms, if people go about as normal with symptoms, then we won't flatten the curve."

"I think it's just fair to be honest with people about that but also to reassure every Victorian we have a plan, we're working hard but we need your help we need your cooperation and we need your assistance."

'Don't underestimate the challenge'

Ms Mikakos said the community should be calm and prepared and seek reliable information about how to keep safe such as washing hands regularly and making people stay home if they are unwell.

She said people should be prepared ahead of the peak of the pandemic.

There was no rice or pasta on the shelves at Woolworths in Greensborough due to panic buying. ( Supplied )

"That doesn't mean engaging in panic buying. It just means being well prepared and thinking about the types of things you might need if you need to be isolating at home for about 14 days," she said.

Mr Andrews said additional travel restrictions like those imposed by New Zealand were on the agenda at a meeting of the national cabinet set up to tackle the pandemic.

"It's a little difficult to explain why say China, who have very few new cases, there are travel bans there," he said.

"But the United States people are a free to travel, when we're seeing many, many new cases, and indeed, the majority of Victoria's new cases are connected to those who have travelled from the United States."

He also warned that while school closures were not planned at this stage, it was "more than a likelihood" that schools in the state would see "significant disruption".

Medical officials in Victoria are conducting about 1,000 coronavirus tests a day. ( ABC News: Ron Ekkel )

Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton warned the public needed to prepare for the possibility of even more drastic measures.

"We have to keep in mind extraordinary measures might need to be taken, measures that some of us wouldn't have seen in our lifetime," he said.

He said not everyone who wanted a test would be able to get one because of global limits on the number of tests available.

The broad testing of tens of thousands of people might be good if we had the swabs available but given the constraints they are focusing on those at highest risk.

"Not everyone who has a cold, and there would be like a quarter-of-a-million in Victoria on any one day, can get tested," Mr Sutton aid.

"We have to be diligent about how we focus our testing. We want to focus on populations who have the greatest risk of turning up positive so that we can identify those cases and isolate them."

From Monday, organised mass gatherings of more than 500 people will be prohibited nationwide.

A large number of major sporting and cultural events have already shut their doors to the public, or have been cancelled entirely.

The Supreme and County courts are suspending all new jury trials and the private school Geelong Grammar is ending term one early.