GREATER Bendigo has recorded another five COVID-19 cases as overall active numbers continue to fall to levels not seen since the early days of the Delta outbreak.

The municipality now has 57 active COVID-19 cases, a fall of 11 from the day before, new Department of Health figures show.

All of the new Greater Bendigo cases were found in central Bendigo's 3550 postcode.

Elsewhere in the region, Castlemaine's Mount Alexander Shire recorded three new cases, which left their total at five overall.

Kyneton's Macedon Ranges Shire area had another six cases, which brought their total to 34 active overall.

Earlier

VICTORIA has recorded another 1,232 COVID-19 cases overnight.

Another nine people have died from the virus.

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A total of 315 people are in hospital, 52 of those are in intensive care and 27 on ventilators.

More than 91 per cent of Victorians are currently double vaccinated.

Over 71,000 people were tested for the virus and another 3,647 received a vaccine dose.

Yesterday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Greater Bendigo dropped to 68, to its lowest in nearly two months.

The last time active case numbers were so low was on October 16 in the early days of the region's delta variant outbreak.

The new low was recorded on the same day that Victoria discovered its first case of the omicron variant.

Genomic testing confirmed a fully-vaccinated traveller who arrived from the Netherlands via Abu Dhabi on Friday contracted the new variant, the health department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Two potential cases are also under investigation.

Also on Wednesday, the Victorian Ombudsman released a scathing report on the Victorian border bubble that found thousands of people were unjustly and inhumanely denied travel permits.

She heard evidence that people were denied exemptions to return from NSW to farewell dying loved ones, get medical care or start jobs.

The state government has been urged to acknowledge the distress the system caused, improve policy and guidance for such schemes and consider ex-gratia payments.

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