A beefed-up campaign is needed to help educate migrant and refugee communities on the dangers of coronavirus, advocacy groups say.
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Community Migrant Resource Centre chief Melissa Monteiro says the organisation has been liaising with the Department of Home Affairs to help spread its virus factsheets.
The factsheets are translated into about 30 languages, but Ms Monteiro says more languages are needed.
She also says communications must be multi-pronged across television, radio, online, face-to-face, in newspapers and through letterbox drops.
"We communicate the message when our clients are here with us and online, but how many have access to all this?" she told AAP.
"So we need a message that is sustained over a long period of time as well. It's good and important to target these communities."
Ms Monteiro says a sustained campaign is needed given how long the pandemic is lasting.
"A lot is being done, but we've got to intensify it and give it another round."
Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria chairperson Eddie Micallef says more can always be done across the entire community.
"We're a victim of our own success in the sense that people become a little bit complacent, a little bit careless and in some cases blase," he told AAP.
"That does not apply just to one particular section within the community, it applies across the board."
Health Minister Greg Hunt defended the government's work with migrant communities in the coronavirus response, as a report said more could be done.
An expert panel of doctors and politicians was told by community representatives they were involved in the coronavirus response on an ad-hoc basis or not at all.
"This is a missed opportunity, and addressing this through a structured process for community engagement is the most effective pathway to manage the risks related to undetected transmission in such groups," the report says.
The report was compiled by the National COVID-19 Health and Research Advisory Committee led by deputy chief medical officer Michael Kidd.
The group also includes federal MPs Katie Allen and Mike Freelander.
Health authorities have warned against travelling in and out of six Melbourne local government areas considered COVID-19 hotspots.
Some of the areas are home to large migrant communities.
Australian Associated Press
