ANOTHER 226 coronavirus cases have been recorded in regional Victoria.

COVID commander Jeroen Weimar said the rise in regional case numbers was not surprising.

"Frankly, that is what we expect to see over the weeks ahead as we start to reduce restrictions and we start to move around more across our state," Mr Weimar said.

The COVID commander said there were 748 COVID-19 patients in hospital, with 138 people receiving intensive care and 87 people on ventilators.

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Of the 13 Victorians who died, there was a man in his 30s, a woman in her 40s, four men and a woman in their 60s, two men and three women in their 80s and a woman in her 90s.

Mr Weimar said Tuesday was a record testing day, with 83, 210 people coming forward.

"A fantastic result and really important at this time," he said. "It's really encouraging to see Victorians continue to come forward to get tested at the onset of symptoms.

"That is how we keep those COVID-safe practices and how we keep ourselves safe over the weeks and months ahead."

About 76.5 per cent of Victorians over the age of 16 are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration on Wednesday gave provisional approval for Australians aged 18 and over to receive a top-up dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

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Mr Weimar said it was a "really important step forward".

"We are very keen to be getting on with that booster program," he said. "We are obviously ready just to assist and support that roll-out across Victoria and in fact across Australia.

"We are now eagerly awaiting ATAGI's advice and the Commonwealth decision on how this will be done. Our clinics, local public health teams, and our vaccinators are standing ready to get on with the program.

"The vast majority of people are well under the six months since the second dose so this is not an immediate thing for the vast majority of us.

"But there are 69,000 Victorians that we are aware of where it has been more than six months since their second dose."

Earlier

THE state's COVID-19 case numbers remain steady at 1,534, however there were 13 more deaths.

A total of 748 patients are in hospital with virus-related health issues on Tuesday.

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Health workers tested over 83,000 people for COVID 19 over the same period.

More than 24,000 people had a vaccination needle as the countdown continued to a new round of eased restrictions on Friday night.

Preparations to bring Melbourne restrictions back in line with regional Victoria's continued.

They came with a warning from chief health officer Brett Sutton that regional Victorians should "prepare themselves" for spikes in COVID-19 case numbers as more tourists hit the road from 6pm on Friday.

Bendigo's tourism sector is hoping that potential negative will be offset by a rise in much-needed trade but so far the city's motels have not seen a significant uptick in bookings.

Tuesday's COVID-19 update:

Meanwhile, the Bendigo RSL has confirmed it will hold a Remembrance Day event in two weeks but says has been forced to ditch plans for services at its traditional Soldiers Memorial Institute venue.

The RSL has blamed it on COVID-19 crowd control requirements and vowed to return services to their "rightful place" for future events, if possible.

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