Right now in Australia we face a pandemic unlike anything we have seen before.

It is the first time anything like this has happened in most of our lives, and many of us are scared. A lot of that fear comes from not knowing what to expect.

I’ve spent most of the last 25 years working on controlling multiple epidemics such as Ebola, Lassa fever and avian flu. I know that we can control them by working together and using evidence.

Australia is in the position to go in early to help control coronavirus. But social distancing is key.

It will work much better than having to go in hard after the virus is widespread in the community, which is what we have seen in Europe.

Communities are the ones that stop outbreaks – be it Ebola, Lassa fever or Sars – and we can stop coronavirus.

We as individuals must do two things now – strict social distancing and practising good hygiene.

A virus needs contact between people to spread, so strict social distancing – staying away from other people – is the most powerful weapon against coronavirus we have as a community. The main way to do this is by staying at home.

When we reduce our contact with each other, we dramatically decrease the potential for this virus to spread. Full stop.

We have the power to stop the spread of this virus by limiting contact with others, by taking children out of school if it is safe to do that, avoiding crowds and gatherings, such as church and sporting events, by avoiding going to the gym, and by not attending that function you were invited to last month.

Social distancing is not something we have to practice forever, but it is something we must practice right now to slow the spread of this virus.

It is the first time anything like this has happened for most Australians and many people are scared. A lot of that fear comes from not knowing what to expect.

Some of our worries about with this outbreak have come from our experiences in the recent bushfires. It seems like that crisis only just finished and now we are being hit with coronavirus.

However, coronavirus is completely different to the bushfires. It will not affect the infrastructure we rely on. It won’t destroy our house and our supply systems won’t be impacted. Essentials for daily life, including electricity and particularly food, will be maintained.

People should be reassured our water will still come out of our taps. Our lights will still turn on. Food will still be available.

We can learn from the experiences around the world about what effective control for Covid-19 looks like.

Places that have controlled the spread of the virus have used strict containment and social distancing, with a framework of other actions, as early as possible in the epidemic.

We must listen to and do what the experts tell us in terms of hand hygiene and social distancing, no matter how burdensome this may feel right now.

These are the most important things we can do right now to make sure that those who are likely to get very sick or die, which is our grandmothers and grandfathers, don’t get infected with coronavirus.

The other thing we can do is not overwhelm the health system. If we get a lot of infections at once, our health system will be under pressure and grandmothers and grandfathers who need care won’t get it. It also means looking after our nurses and doctors. They take care of us when we are sick. It is time to take care of them.

I do not believe we are doing enough testing to know for certain if there is or isn’t spread in the community, and so we will only identify it through deaths in older people.

If we wait until then to take strong action then we risk overwhelming our health system as we have seen happen in Italy, and is now happening in other parts of Europe and the United States, and that risks many thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people dying unnecessarily.

If we act early, when numbers in the community are low, we buy ourselves time to establish strong health and epidemiological systems, and the best chance of returning in a few months to life without these measures.

Every single member of the community has an important part to play, including doing everything we can to make sure we protect the most vulnerable people who are likely to get very sick or die.

The community has the solutions to coronavirus in our hands and together can stop its spread sooner rather than later.

• Dr Kamalini Lokuge is a medical doctor and epidemiologist who has spent the last 25 years controlling high-risk epidemics, including Ebola, Lassa fever and avian flu. Dr Lokuge was identified by the New York Times as the first epidemiologist to alert the world to the scale of the 2014 west African Ebola outbreak, as well as contributing to its resolution