"Only in asking for complete lockdown for all but essential services can I be confident I have done my best," Darren Briggs said.

Dr Briggs, a GP with advanced skills in emergency medicine, has isolated himself away from his family and expects to live apart from them until the crisis wanes.

He said he was awaiting results from routine testing after having contact with an infected Mersey healthcare worker.

Dr Briggs said his first test came back negative and Public Health was being thorough and double checking.

"I hate the fact that I will not be able to see my family again until this COVID-19 curse is over, but the decision is easy," Dr Briggs said.

"I myself have to also play my part in reducing the spread of infection, so the less people I come into contact with, the more I am doing.

"This brings tears to my eyes, but unless I do this and call for an entire lockdown ... including all but ... essential services, then I am not going to be able to look my kids, my aged parents, my friends or patients with chronic disease in the eye in three weeks or three months and say I did my best.

"Hopefully the virus will be slowed dramatically from spread within our community; hopefully we will avoid the mass tragedy, the human toll, being played out in China, Europe and the UK currently."

Dr Briggs, who stressed he was expressing personal opinions and not speaking on behalf of the Tasmanian Health Service, had strong praise for Premier Peter Gutwein and the state government's general handling of the virus threat.

"I think Tasmania has been nation-leading," Dr Briggs said.

"They've taken some really bold and gutsy moves.

"All I'm saying is there's one more page in the manual we can pull out and use.

"Let's not leave that in the manual until we regret not doing it earlier."

Mr Gutwein did not rule out a hard lockdown.

"Thousands of businesses have been closed and tens of thousands of Tasmanians have lost their jobs, but if these actions work, and whilst we won't rule out even tighter restrictions, we want to try and avoid a full shutdown which would be economically and socially destructive," he said.

"However if further restrictions are required, we will not hesitate to put them in place.

"As always, our plan is based on what is in the best interests of Tasmanians and expert health advice."

Mr Gutwein said keeping Tasmanians safe and secure during the outbreak was the government's top priority.

"Being an island state, we have a unique chance to control the coronavirus and we are using that as an advantage," he said.

"We have the toughest border controls in the country and we've taken early steps to stay ahead of the curve.

"As well as forced business closures, restrictive social gathering rules are reducing public interaction to minimise the possible spread of the virus.

"We are aggressively tracking, tracing and isolating those who have contracted the virus and their close contacts."

Dr Briggs said every interaction which was avoided was a lost opportunity for the virus to spread.

He said his own small holiday accommodation business had "ground to a halt" and he understood that people wanted to keep working and businesses wanted to keep operating.

"What I would ask them is how do they weigh lives against dollars," he said.

"Dollars can be re-earned, lives can't be recreated."