Lockdown expected to end in regional Victoria next week

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews warned it would not be a "full opening up" and will likely exclude Shepparton, with more details expected to be announced early next week.

"We do think we can have some positive news for regional Victoria next week," Mr Andrews said on Wednesday.

"It will not be a full opening up, there will not be hundreds of people at the pub, or the restaurant, or the cafe, but there will be activity that is possible, and safe, and that will be in excess of what's happening in Melbourne because cases are very different, the epidemiology of regional Victoria is very different."

READ MORE: Record numbers get first dose as region leads COVID-19 vaccine rollout

From 11.59pm tomorrow Victorian playgrounds will reopen across the state but lockdown rules will remain in place for Melbourne until September 23 when it is expected 70 percent of people will have received at least one vaccine dose.

There's still only five reasons to leave home.

The 9pm to 5am curfew will remain in place for metropolitan Melbourne.

From Friday playgrounds will be for children under 12 with only one parent or carer, and adults should not remove their masks to eat or drink. Playgrounds will also have QR codes for checking in.

In-home care - like babysitters - will also be expanded to school aged children but only if both parents are authorised workers.

The modest easing of restrictions come as Victoria recorded 120 new local cases of coronavirus on Wednesday.

100 of those were infectious in the community, marking a "dramatic shift" in the Victorian outbreak.

"The depth of the seeding of this outbreak has been clear and the advice has fundamentally changed," Mr Andrews said.

"We will not see these cases go down, they are going to go up. The question is by how many and how fast.

"We can't ease restrictions in any profound way."

Victoria has abandoned it's goal to drive down cases to zero.

"It's now clear to us that we are not going to drive these numbers down they're instead going to increase. Now it's up to us to make sure that they don't increase too fast."

READ MORE: South-west pharmacies, GPs offering COVID-19 vaccines

From September 23 it is expected a range of changes can take place for Melbourne, including expanding the five kilometre limit to 10 kilometres and an additional hour of exercise permitted.

Regional students could be back in the classroom as early as next week, the Premier said.

From September 7-17 senior students will get priority access to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine ahead of final exams.

The "year 12 vaccination blitz" will see year 12 students will be given priority booking access at state-run clinics, as well as teachers and examiners.

Students and teachers will need to book an appointment, as walk ups are not available as part of the blitz.

Students and teachers will be able to book one of these priority appointments from Monday September 6.

READ MORE: Warrnambool records most fully vaccinated residents of Victoria's regional cities

The Department of Health and the Department of Education will work directly with schools, and students and parents will receive the advice on how to arrange a booking through their schools.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said none of the year 12-aged students who have been vaccinated have ended up in hospital.

Two-thirds of Victoria's 900 active cases are under the age of 40, with 187 under the age of nine.

"This continues to be an outbreak impacting mostly younger Victorians," Professor Sutton said.

READ MORE: COVID-19 outbreak among young people continues as south-west vaccine bookings 'extraordinary'

While there are limited Pfizer appointments because of supply, there are 72,745 Astra Zeneca appointments available across Victoria over the next three weeks.

"Astra Zeneca is a safe and effective vaccine - and if that's what's available, then that's what you should get.

"Despite all of these extraordinary efforts between contact tracing and between millions of Victorians following the rules, we are still seeing a slow and steady increase (in new COVID-19 infections).

"We have to move as fast as we can to get the highest possible vaccination coverage, which will change how transmission occurs."

If Victoria wasn't in lockdown for the last four weeks there would have been 1700 new COVID-19 cases today and 3000 by the end of the week, Professor Sutton said.

The Premier predicts 80 per cent of the Victorian population aged over 16 will have had at lease a single dose by October 9.

All Victorians are encouraged where possible to book their vaccination appointment by visiting portal.cvms.vic.gov.au or by phoning the coronavirus hotline on 1800 675 398.

Earlier:

Victoria recorded 120 new coronavirus cases, with 64 infections linked to known COVID-19 outbreaks. Only 20 were in isolation for their infectious period.

There are now 900 active cases of COVID-19 in the state, including 122 mystery cases.

The cases were uncovered from 56,501 tests yesterday.

There are 58 Victorians in hospital, with 21 in intensive care and 14 in ventilators.

On Tuesday 33,455 vaccines doses were administered.

Victoria is halfway to its target of one million vaccines within a five week period, reaching 522,051 jabs.

Victoria's 120 new cases mark the highest number of new cases recorded across the state in more than a year - there were 149 new cases recorded on August 26 2020 during the state's deadly second wave - and comes a day after Victoria recorded two COVID-19 deaths, the first in the state this year.

READ MORE: Delta death toll hits 100 in NSW, 1116 new cases

Late on Tuesday the health department revealed the women, aged in their 40s and 60s, died at home after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

Once Victoria reaches the 80 per cent vaccine target set by national cabinet, Mr Andrews said the national plan would replace the roadmap.

Meanwhile, the AFL grand final has officially been relocated from Melbourne for a second straight year and will be played in Perth on September 25.

- with AAP