A SOUTH east Queensland council has been warned to expect a quarter of its workforce will affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council has been told to expect 25 per cent of its staff will be impacted and off work for weeks.

The warning has spurred the organisation to begin planning which service needed to be maintained, and which could be wound back.

CEO Ian Church attended a state disaster co-ordination update where council staff were told it was critical they started planning for the impact of the virus.

"The expectation is it will peak in May in this country, we should expect to have 25 per cent of our workforce away for up to 20 weeks," Mr Church said.

"We need to start with business continuity planning - identify which services must keep going as opposed to those that can drop off."

The council leadership team will also meet today to discuss the plans.

Deputy Mayor Jason Cook also suggested staff should be given basic training in other areas in case fellow works were unable to attend work.

"Between now and (May) do we start looking at our staff multi-tasking - getting some knowledge of other duties," Cr Cook said.

Councillors were also told a "step-by-step" process was being developed to keep operation running with minimal staffing levels.