By mid-morning on Wednesday, there were 36 confirmed cases across the Murrumbidgee Local Health District, with at least three people hospitalised for treatment.

The Junee Shire was yet to record a confirmed case with daily updates continuing.

Senior police, health officials and the region's politicians have banded together to appeal for residents to stay home as much as possible in a bid to stop the coronavirus spread.

The plea comes as the region's hospitals suspend all surgery that is not trauma-listed or urgent, with the region's private facilities working to take on other planned operations.

Police will also begin enforcing the state government's new social distancing regulations.

Penalties of $11,000 or six months jail time is what the public now faces should they fail to comply with new rules to not leave the home without a reasonable excuse, or to be in the company of more than one other person who is not living in the same household.

Riverina police district's Superintendent Bob Noble said officers had already begun to crack down on individuals disobeying new laws in the wider region.

"We are currently investigating an alleged breach by individuals in the eastern part of the Riverina, and if it is found that they broke the law knowingly, we will take action," he said.

Superintendent Noble urged people to adhere to the new regulations.

"The prohibition of more than two persons together does not apply to families, but I urge that stepping out as a family of four, five or more should be avoided," he said.

"Even things like pushing a baby in a pram around town with your partner is advised against, don't do that if you really don't need to."

Jill Ludford, the chief executive of the MLHD, said shutting down surgery had allowed the hospitals to reduce their current occupation rates, create specific areas to deal with coronavirus, and be ready to care for people who require in-patient care for the illness.

Ms Ludford appealed to the public to listen to the advice of health professionals when it came to visiting a hospital or not.

Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke also appealed for people to follow the coronavirus guidelines.

She said it was important the smaller communities within her electorate like Junee remained vigilant because their health systems would struggle to manage a significant outbreak.

"We don't have large base hospitals, we are living in an isolated areas in a lot of cases and on top of that a lot of our communities are elderly," Ms Cooke said.

"We need to make sure that we all pull together, whether its our agencies, our elected officials, we all need to pull together as a community and make sure that we do everything we possibly can to stop and slow the spread of this virus."

Ms Cooke said while it was positive to see such a slow spread among smaller communities so far, the rules needed to be followed to continue to prevent a later overload of the health system.

"While I am heartened at where we are in terms of small communities, this is no time to be complacent," she said.

"Each and every one of us does have a role to play and we must heed the health advice, we must practice social distancing, we must practice good hygiene and we must only leave the home if it is essential to do so."