New laws allowing authorities to have more time to find and potentially detain suspected coronavirus victims are being rushed through the Queensland Parliament.
The sweeping powers allowing authorities to force people into quarantine or undergo medical tests were declared a week ago.
But they expire late on Wednesday, as under existing laws they can only be enacted for seven days.
Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles said he needed an extension of at least three months to ensure efforts to contain the deadly virus were not stalled.
"A public health emergency order provides emergency officers appointed under the Public Health Act with wide-ranging powers to manage any health threats and keep Queenslanders safe," he said.
"It allows emergency officers to require a person to remain at a particular place or stop a person from going to a particular place, require a person to provide an emergency officer with help when requested, and various other powers to manage public health risks.
"We need these powers to make sure if people choose not to follow the requests of our health officers that they can force them to do so.
"These are broad powers and we wouldn't be making this law if we did not think it was necessary in these circumstances.
"But I think given the level of concern, given the advice from agencies that this is one of the fastest spreading new viruses they have seen, the opportunity we have here to keep Queensland safe and isolated from this virus is really important."
There would be hefty fines of $13,300 for anyone who refused to comply with an order from a designated emergency medical officer.
The person could be referred to the police and, subject to the powers police already had, could be arrested and ultimately jailed.
However, Mr Miles said, so far, no-one had refused an order to self-isolate or stay away from schools, child care facilities or TAFE colleges.
The measures have been in place in Queensland since 2005 but only been enacted once before in 2009 during the global swine flu epidemic.
Mr Miles said he hoped to introduce the bill into State Parliament today and have it passed by the end of the week.
