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THOUSANDS of Victorians are due to leave self-isolation in the coming days after in close contact with COVID-19 cases, if they return a negative day 13 test to the virus.
But Victorian authorities have held off confirming an end to the lockdown, saying they would make the decision based on the most up-to-date data.
Department of Health officials have urged anyone in self-isolation to have patience with the release process, emphasising those isolation needed written confirmation from an authorised officer.
COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said the latest outbreak stood at 180 cases in total after Monday's figures, with five cases currently in hospital. Two of these were in intensive care, Mr Weimar said.
Other news:
Mr Weimar said nine of Victoria's new COVID-19 cases were household contacts of existing cases, while two were linked to an exposure site at Ms Frankie restaurant in Cremorne.
He said there were no new COVID-19 exposure sites, as all cases had been in isolation during their infectious period.
Mr Weimar said 21,183 primary close contacts of COVID-19 cases remained in 14-day isolation, at various stages.
COVID-19 response deputy secretary Kate Matson said health teams had cleared more than 6000 of these contacts to leave isolation in the past few days.
Ms Matson said anyone in self-isolation needed to be cleared by a Department of Health authorised officer before leaving.
She said people in isolation needed a day 13 test, which needed to be reconciled with records.
Ms Matson said people in self-isolation would then receive an individual clearance confirmation from the Department of Health, usually by email.
She asked people in self-isolation to have patience with the process, as the department was clearing thousands of people in a very short window.
"Our teams are working extremely hard to cross check and verify. We won't take risks with this process. Victoria has worked very hard to get where we are," Ms Matson said.
11.30am
AUTHORITIES have held off confirming whether Victoria will leave a snap lockdown as planned on Tuesday night, but say the state is "on the right track".
Victoria reported 11 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to midnight, all of which were in quarantine during their infectious period.
The state's fifth lockdown is scheduled to end at 11.59pm on Tuesday, but authorities are yet to confirm if this will go ahead.
Health Minister Martin Foley said nothing had been finalised about possible restriction easing on Tuesday, as the government wanted to make the decision based on the most accurate, up-to-date data and public health advice.
But he said the government looked forward to having more to say on Tuesday about the next steps out of restrictions.
Mr Foley said all 22 locally acquired COVID-19 cases over the weekend were quarantining during their infectious period, but the number was still "a significant figure" given Victoria's journey over the past 18 months.
"It's not a risk that we take lightly, but equally we do take comfort from the fact that they've all been in quarantine for the entirety of their infectious period," Mr Foley said.
"What it points to is that we are on the right track ... and we will make a decision based on the decision of the public health team, on the most up to date advice."
Mr Foley urged Victorians to continue come forward for COVID-19 testing in high numbers, if they had even the slightest symptoms.
He said testing numbers were a vital tool in the toolkit of Victoria's public health officials.
"Particularly with the virus having circulated so recently in our community ... we need to make sure our testing number stay high," Mr Foley said.
Mr Foley said anyone leaving home should check in everywhere they went using the QR code system, saying high quality data from that had been vital to getting ahead of the Delta outbreak.
He also urged people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if they were eligible.
Earlier
Victoria has recorded 11 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 since Sunday.
The new coronavirus cases are all related to current outbreaks and all were in quarantine during their infectious period.
There is also one new COVID-19 cases in hotel quarantine.
Read more:
The new cases come as Victoria remains hopeful of exiting its lockdown at its scheduled ending of 11.59pm on Tuesday night.
On Sunday, premier Daniel Andrews said it was too early to confirm lockdown would end on Tuesday despite the strategy working.
"There is still a couple of days to go, and as we saw with an apartment block yesterday, things can change," the premier said. "It is fast moving and can be quite dynamic."
Mr Andrews also labelled anti-lockdown protesters "selfish".
He said he did not believe the large gathering of protesters would fundamentally change things around Victoria's lockdown but could not rule it out.
"None of us could rule that out," he said. "There was a reason why there are rules against large gatherings in the middle of a pandemic."
Victoria also saw 25,404 test results on Sunday and 13,953 coronavirus vaccines administered
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