A tiny fraction of coronavirus cases in Australia came from mainland China , where the disease first took hold.

While two-thirds of cases in Australia come from overseas, just 0.35 per cent of those come from mainland China.

And less than one per cent came from the first hotspots of the disease. Northeast Asia, which includes China, South Korea and Japan, accounts for 0.95 per cent of cases in Australia.

Buses taking people away for quarantine after they have arrived home from overseas. (Edwina Pickles/The Sydney Morning Herald)

An even smaller fraction derived from southern and central Asia.

Coronavirus infections originating in Asia are dwarfed by cases coming into the country from elsewhere.

The overwhelming bulk of imported cases come from Europe and the Americas.

Europe and the Americas account for most imported coronavirus cases in Australia. (Health Department)

The United Kingdom is the country responsible for the most coronavirus imports to Australia.

Eighteen per cent of Australians who caught coronavirus overseas got it in the United Kingdom .

Another 15 per cent caught it in the United States of America.

In all, cases have been imported into Australia from more than 45 countries.

Where cases of coronavirus in Australia come from. (Health Department)

The figures were collated by the Department of Health based on cases reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

More than a quarter of imported cases are tied to cruise ships.

Hundreds of cases have been linked to one particular vessel, the Ruby Princess.

Three thousand passengers from the cruise ship dispersed across the country after it docked in Sydney last month.

NSW Police Rescue officers look on as the Ruby Princess, with 1040 crew on board, docks at Port Kembla, Wollongong (AAP)

It is currently docked in Port Kembla in Wollongong, and more than a thousand crew members remain on-board, unable to disembark.

Of those, about 200 are sick.

NSW Police are now considering a homicide investigation into the cruise ship.

The overwhelming number of coronavirus cases in Australia have been contracted overseas, including those on cruise ships.

The bulk of the remaining numbers were acquired locally from a confirmed case.

Nearly 6000 people in Australia have contracted coronavirus, with more than 2500 now considered recovered.