We all know there's still a lot of work to do and a long way to go before we get to whatever a "covid normal" regional Victoria looks like, but we have made great progress.

The rolling 14-day average number of new cases had dipped to 4.5 yesterday - well below the threshold of five.

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And if regional Victoria is to move further ahead of Melbourne when restrictions ease some time soon, the state government needs to consider the impact this might have not just for relieved country Victorians, but also for frustrated Melburnians.

The lack of any absolute lockdown of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire that was mandated as part of the Premier's declaration early last month has made it too easy for people to travel between the two zones.

Every single time a person passes through the ineffectual blockade, they represent additional risk. To all of us.

This is not to say essential travel should not happen between the regions and urban Melbourne, but we need to be clear, the temptation for locked-down Melbourne residents to travel into regional areas will only increase once we do get the green light for a staged easing of restrictions, hopefully soon.

At the moment, it's too easy to travel into regional Victoria, and not every vehicle is checked.

If a blockade between Melbourne and the rest of the state is conditional to any ongoing restrictions, it needs to be better than it is now.

The state government also needs to continue to invest in additional contract tracing resources to help keep on top of the so-called mystery cases.

Their identification and early intervention can only happen if there's more work done much earlier once a case has been detected.

We all want to see the next move continue to be in the right direction, but we cannot afford to do anything that jeopardises the state's long term recovery.