The chance of a coronavirus outbreak at Queensland’s largest university campus remains low despite two students contracting the disease, the state’s health minister says.

A University of Queensland student visited the St Lucia campus in Brisbane - which is attended by around 50,000 students and thousands of staff - on Thursday and Friday last week.

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The 22-year-old man from Brisbane was diagnosed on Tuesday after recently returning from Italy, the coronavirus epicentre in Europe which has been placed into lockdown, Spain and France.

In an email to students seen by 7NEWS.com.au, UQ said the student was “unknowingly infectious” when he attended the campus.

“Students and staff who may have been in close contact with a confirmed case will be contacted directly by Queensland Health,” vice-chancellor Peter Høj said in the email.

A student at the University of Queensland tested positive for the virus. Credit: University of Queensland/ mytotoyaya / Facebook

“Close contact is defined as face-to-face contact for a period over 15 minutes, or those who have shared an enclosed space for more than two hours.”

State Health Minister Steven Miles said he did not know how many students the patient had come into contact with.

But he said the risk of transmission at the university was low, saying the kind of “close contact” required to transmit the disease was like “a parent with a child”.

“That’s not the kind of contact that generally happens in university lectures,” he said on Wednesday.

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“What we define as contact is someone who’s had very close contact for 15 minutes or been in a room with the person for two hours.

“While a lecture might go for two hours, it’s not very close contact.

“So the level of risk would be considered to be quite low.

“We’re contacting all of them (students in the lecture), just the same.

FILE IMAGE of the University of Queensland’s St Lucia campus in Brisbane. Credit: Dave Hunt / AAP

Last week, a 20-year-old Brisbane-based man from China, who is also a UQ student, contracted coronavirus.

The university did not believe he had attended its campuses.

His housemate, also a UQ student, tested negative for the disease.

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Asked whether a shutdown of the St Lucia campus was necessary, Miles said ”UQ’s a very big campus.”

“The proportion of people who might have had that level of contact with this student is probably very low,” he said.

His comments come as Southern Cross University closed its Gold Coast and Lismore campuses after a a staff member tested positive for coronavirus.

The Philippines-based staff member fell ill after returning home following his attendance at a series of workshops in Australia.