Contact the supplier before taking any steps such as disposal, or containment and diversion.

The latest figures are the largest recorded daily increase, adding to pressure on the Department of Health to abandon its strategy of containment.

Are we looking long-term or short-term, local or regional - and are we to include or exclude impacts from the use of chemical dispersants and fires and the other containment measures?

Other countries in the Southern Hemisphere, such as South Africa, have given up trying to contain the virus and are working to ensure their health systems can cope.

Rudd may try to play down Beijing's concerns that Canberra is part of a China-containment coalition.