Health experts have warned Australians to be alert to the possibility COVID-19 could remain on surfaces for days, as work continues on a vaccine.

Coronavirus could potentially linger on surfaces for days, health experts say, adding more urgency to the need for better hygiene standards.

Medicos put their heads together at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday to share tips and knowledge on the pandemic.

ACT Health's associate professor Vanessa Johnston said it was unknown how long coronavirus remained on surfaces, but it could be hours or days.

"It is important in terms of our own hygiene practices that we are cleaning and disinfecting surfaces that we will regularly touch," Professor Johnston said.

She said the average incubation period for the virus was five to six days, but could range from zero to 14.

Professor Johnston said of 300 cases that tested positive for coronavirus in Australia, 71 per cent were believed to have caught it overseas.

Australian National University's Dr Kamalini Lokuge said those who had the capacity to pull their children out of school, without leaving them with grandparents, should do so.

However it contradicted advice given by medical experts to the prime minister that schools should remain open.

Director of Epidemiology at Melbourne's Doherty Institute Professor Jodie McVernon said a flu vaccine would be even more important this year.

She said pregnant women were not at an increased risk of the virus.

Professor McVernon also defended the government's approach to school closures, saying Singapore had left schools open and had more success in containing the virus than Hong Kong, which shut classrooms.

On Tuesday, researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute announced the immune responses from one of Australia's first coronavirus patients had been mapped, which could lead to a vaccine.

Dr Paul Griffin, a researcher from Queensland's Mater Hospital, said it was a big step forward, but the vaccine development couldn't be rushed.

"We can't cut corners with vaccine development. At every step we have to make sure we're safe and effective," he said.

Dr Griffin said the use of anti-viral drugs to combat the coronavirus outbreak could help, but a vaccine was the answer.

The government has flagged any vaccine is at least one year away.