It may not prove a popular suggestion, but Dr Cathie Hull, a Sydney emergency doctor, has called for a two-week lockdown for everyone living in a majorly populated area, to contain the spread of the coronavirus at this “critical stage”.

Dr Hull has just emerged from self-quarantine after being exposed to the virus by a colleague at Sydney’s Ryde Hospital who had been hospitalised with COVID-19.

During Dr Hull’s time in isolation, she watched the number of cases rise sharply, and she believes Australia could do more to contain the spread of the virus earlier.

“Given my own experience with this virus and the challenges of predicting and detecting it, I am concerned that our efforts to control it are not ramping up quickly enough,” she said in an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald.