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There were 80 new cases of COVID-19 recorded across regional Victoria overnight.
COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar confirmed that the total of active cases in the regions is now 611.
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"The most significant of today's cases in regional Victoria include in greater Shepparton where we have seen 15 additional cases," he said.
"8 are household primary close contacts and were well isolated under control. Five were secondary close contacts or workplace close contacts and two more are under investigation at this point in time."
Ballarat recorded another eight new cases.
Mr Weimar said three of those were household primary close contacts and were are a cluster of disability workers that we have been working with for the last week or so across a number of different facilities.
"We have one case in Ballarat that comes from a party exposure in Point Cook and we have one case that is still being investigated at this point in time," he said.
Four new cases were recorded in Mildura.
Sadly, 11 people lost their lives with COVID-19 overnight.
Health Minster Martin Foley said he passed on his deepest condolences to the families, friends and communities of those Victorians. They include:
- A woman in her 70s and two women in their 90s from Whittlesea.
- Two women and a man in their 70s and a man in his 80s from Hume.
- A man in his 70s from Moreland.
- A man in his 70s from Hobson's Bay.
- A woman in her 60s from Darebin and a man in his 50s from Casey.
Currently, there are 525 people who are hospitalised with COVID-19 in Victoria. 94 of those people are in intensive care with 53 on a ventilator.
Of those people hospitalised yesterday, some 66 per cent were unvaccinated, 28 per cent were partially vaccinated, and 6 per cent were vaccinated.
Mr Foley said in regards to tests, a daily record of 71,451 tests were done yesterday bringing now to over 3 million tests since this current outbreak commenced.
There has also been changes to the arrangements on the border between Victoria and New South Wales.
Mr Foley said from midnight tonight, the red zones in New South Wales and the ACT, which are those areas not in lockdown will change to orange zones.
"What that means is that both Victorians and non-Victorian residents returning from those areas will need to have a test after arriving within 72 hours and wait for a negative result prior to moving about the community," he said.
Mr Foley said extreme risk zones, which are the lockdown areas in the ACT and New South Wales will change to red zones and that means Victorian residents can return through an online application.
"They will need to test and home quarantine for 14 days and we will continue to monitor and as we are confident, the risk continue to be mitigated in New South Wales," he said.
"We want to make sure that we continue to keep a close eye on that and if there are further changes to be made in due course, we will, of course, let everybody know."
Mr Foley said they will be ramping up the use of rapid antigen testing, which already forms part of the "tool kit for testing and serial monitoring of COVID in a range of different settings".
He said the 2.2 million tests will be rolled out throughout the healthcare system, before being expanded into "particularly risky settings" including schools, child care, corrections, emergency services and more.
Earlier
There were 1,420 new cases of COVID-19 recorded yesterday from over 71,000 tests.
Sadly, the Department was notified of 11 deaths.
Yesterday about 36,000 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria's state-commissioned services.
A summary of Tuesday's case numbers is below:
Bendigo bus routes operated by Christians Bus Bendigo will resume a normal service on Wednesday, following Tuesday's changes as a result of driver availability.
While several drivers are still required to isolate, a sufficient number are now able to return to work.
The company has apologised to passengers for the disruption to their journey and thanked everyone for their continued patience and understanding during this challenging time.
Passengers are reminded to wear a mask on public transport, and to monitor the Department of Health's list of exposure sites at coronavirus.vic.gov.au
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Victorians are encouraged to book their COVID-19 vaccination through their local GP or community pharmacy, community health service or state vaccination centre. To find a GP or pharmacy provider and make a booking, visit www.health.gov.au.
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