Victorians can expect to have to wear masks for at least the remainder of the year, Premier Daniel Andrews says.
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The confirmation came at his daily press conference on Tuesday.
"If we're going to have that ring of steel gone on the 8th, and we're going to have people from Melbourne travelling into regional Victoria and vice versa - and that's important for tourism, for compassionate reasons, for lots of different reasons - masks need to be with us, across the whole state, for some time," Mr Andrews said.
"I know it's frustrating, I know that no one particularly enjoys wearing a mask... but at the same time, it is a very low price to pay for potentially a very significant benefit."
He said other countries showed mask-wearing and keeping numbers low went hand-in-hand, and it would be around as long as it served a purpose.
"We'll be wearing masks, I think, at least till the end of the year, and we could be wearing masks into next year," Mr Andrews said.
He said the advice remained that masks were playing an important role.
Tuesday marked the second consecutive day the state recorded no new COVID-19 cases - the last time this happened was more than seven months ago, on March 5 and 6.
Mr Andrews said the government would outline its aims for the rest of the year - including how people would hopefully be able to celebrate Christmas - on November 8.
He said the rules around home visits would remain in place beyond that date, but they would be reviewed and the government would give the public as much notice as possible ahead of Christmas.
It was unclear, however, whether Mr Andrews was referring specifically to the restrictions that applied to regional Victoria, or those coming into force in Melbourne.
In regional Victoria, a person can have up to two people (plus their dependents) visit on any one day.
If they are from different households, they must visit separately.
A person in regional Victoria who has had visitors at their home, can go visit someone else on that same day.
Similar rules will apply in Melbourne from 11.59pm on Tuesday, however, a household can only have one visit per day, with two adults and any dependents from one household.
They are not allowed to visit another household on the same day they have had visitors, and any visits must be within the current 25-kilometre travel limit.
People are also asked to keep records of who has visited their home.
Mr Andrews said people tended to let their guard down in the home.
"Your home is the most dangerous place for the spread of this virus," he said.
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Meanwhile, there are 87 active cases of COVID-19, two of which are in regional Victoria, both in Greater Shepparton.
Five people are in hospital with the virus, but none are in intensive care.
In the two weeks to October 24, there were six cases for which the source of infection was unknown, all in Melbourne.
Mr Andrews said the testing effort in Victoria over the past two weeks was "nothing short of stunning".
He said testing would remain highly important and urged anyone who experienced even mild symptoms to get tested.
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