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The Department of Health has confirmed four more coronavirus cases in central Victoria.
Gannawarra Shire has recorded three new cases while the Macedon Ranges has one new cases.
Macedon Ranges now has 21 active cases while Gannawarra has four.
Across regional Victoria, there were 46 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
The confirmation came via the chief health officer's daily update.
4.05pm
TWO new exposure sites have been listed in Ararat.
The Priceline Pharmacy on Barkly Street has been listed as a tier two site between 2.50pm and 4pm on September 27.
The Woolworths on Ingor Street is also a tier two site, with the exposure period listed between 3pm and 4pm on September 27.
Anyone who visited those locations during the exposure times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result.
The full list of exposure sites can be found here.
3.39pm
The Exchange Hotel in Kerang has been added to the list of tier one exposure sites.
Anyone who visited the premises, located at 62-64 Wellington Street, on Sunday, September 26 between 10:40am and 1:35pm must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from exposure.
11.40am
VICTORIANS who defied orders not to gather for Grand Final festivities on the long weekend could have blown the state's reopening timeline.
Authorities are blaming hundreds of people's decisions to go to others' homes for grand final parties on Friday and Saturday night for a huge spike.
Health workers are hoping to contain the surge over coming days and have not ruled out new restrictions or changes to the reopening outbreak.
COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said that it made the vaccine rollout even more important than ever.
He says following the rules will buy time so that the vaccine rollout can allow eased restrictions.
He has also said it is critical that anyone who went to a grand final gathering get tested as soon as possible.
"You don't know if someone there was harbouring the virus," he said.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he wanted to avoid changes to the roadmap but said repeats in coming weekends would pose a huge risk to the roadmap.
"I know how frustrating it is an I know why people want to connect with the people they love to get back to something like normal," he said.
"But we don't quite have the freedom to do that yet."
11.30am
PREMIER Daniel Andrews says people will be able to get their second Pfizer dose faster after Victoria and the commonwealth locked in supply for October.
It means the interval between the first and second dose will halve to three weeks from 4 October, he has told reporters.
Mr Andrews said Victoria was still considering easing social distancing restrictions on or around 26 October.
That date was previously forecast as the time when Victoria reached its 70 per cent double dose target.
But the deal could allow lockdowns to end a few days earlier.
"Anything we can do to bring that forward even by a day or two, the sooner restrictions end," Mr Andrews said.
11.20am
A HUGE spike in Victoria's case numbers could have been caused by people breaking social distancing rules over the long weekend.
Premier Daniel Andrews said many hundreds of people - "perhaps thousands of people" - had spent the weekend at other people's houses.
Contact tracers had confirmed the theory during interviews.
"We can't change what has gone on in the last week or so," he said.
"But what we can do is as we head into the long weekend ... make the best choices possible."
Mr Andrews said that Thursday's numbers were 50 per cent higher than the day before and had reached 1438 cases.
He urged people not to make "really poor choices" as healthcare workers prepare for an expected deluge of cases as the economy is reopened in coming months.
Nearly half of Victoria's population is now fully vaccinated, Mr Andrews said.
Earlier
VICTORIA has recorded 1438 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours in a huge jump from the 950 confirmed for the day before.
It is the second successive day case numbers have been above 900 new cases.
There were also five coronavirus-related deaths in Victoria on Wednesday along with 65,497 test results received and 34,323 vaccinations administered.
Victoria's active case tally now sits at 11,018.
Read more:
All exposure sites were visited by a positive case on Thursday, September 23.
Fusion Room of Hair (10am to 10.50am) and the nearby Fruit Shack in Ironbark (10.25am to 11.15am), along with the Bendigo Salvation Army Thrift Shop on Thistle Street in Golden Square (11.22am and 12.10pm), have all been listed as tier one exposure sites.
Anyone who visited a tier one location during the exposure times must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from the exposure.
Mick's Fish & Takeaway (11.55am to 12.30pm) on Nolan Street, the Eaglehawk Eco Centre - Recycling Shop (1.12pm and 1.55pm), Waugh's Industrial Supplies Bendigo (11.05am to 11.45am) and Abbott Supply (9.40am to 10.20am) in the Deborah Triangle, and the Lake Weeroona Playspace and Toilets (noon to 1.30pm) are all listed as tier two sites.
Anyone who visited a tier two location during the exposure times should urgently get tested, then isolate until confirmation of a negative result.
Victoria is also shaking up its response to COVID-19 as the current outbreak's breaks infection records.
Contact tracers have begun texting links to online forms to help triage cases before their first phone call to many of those who test positive for the virus.
The announcement was made on the same day that Victorian authorities confirmed a record 950 confirmed cases in one day.
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