Victorians have received promising news as they eye more freedoms on Thursday, with no fresh coronavirus infections reported.
State health authorities confirmed zero new cases in the community in the 24 hours to midnight on Wednesday, from 25,635 tests.
The news comes after a worrying outbreak in a Southbank housing complex forced hundreds of residents into self-isolation, with testing ramped up at the venue.
That cluster remains at eight people, including one infant.
Tweet from @VicGovDH
Another of the concerning new cases reported on Wednesday was a nurse at Epping Private Hospital, where three COVID-positive Arcare Maidstone aged care residents were previously transferred.
COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said the nurse had received at least her first dose of the vaccine and may have been infectious during at least one of two shifts this month.
The woman also worked at a medical ward at the Northern Hospital on June 11 and 12.
More than a dozen new exposure sites have been listed across Brunswick, Pascoe Vale and the Crown Casino complex.
Anyone who watched the movie Cruella at Crown’s Village Cinemas on June 12 at 7.30pm has been told to quarantine for 14 days.
It comes as Victoria prepares for another round of relaxed COVID-19 rules, as a “circuit-breaker lockdown” is slowly stepped back.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Wednesday he knows Victorians are over the pandemic but urged them to follow the state’s latest COVID-19 restrictions.
With restrictions set to wind back further from 11.59pm Thursday, the state government is urging those “over it” to continue to observe the rules.
Acting Premier James Merlino confirmed the easing of restrictions for Melbourne and regional Victoria from Friday.
Under the latest changes, Melbourne residents will be able to travel to regional Victoria with the removal of the 25 kilometre bubble, host two adult visitors plus dependents per day and gather outdoors in groups of 20.
Masks will remain mandatory indoors, though will only be required outdoors when social distancing is not possible.
Businesses such as gyms and indoor entertainment venues will be able to reopen, while density limits at offices, cafes, restaurants and pubs will increase.
In regional Victoria, the home visit cap will increase to five adults plus their dependents per day, while up to 50 people can gather outdoors.
Mr Merlino said restrictions would ease further in a week’s time if COVID-19 cases continue to remain low.
“We have to ease in a way that is safe, and we are making positive progress,” he said on Wednesday.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there still may be undetected cases in the community and urged people not to slacken off on following rules.
“It’s really tough. This is 16 months into a pandemic. There is no question that people are over this,” he said.
Professor Sutton said authorities would have to balance the ongoing need for masks in high-risk indoor settings over winter against fatigue.
“We don’t want people to be fatigued by mask-wearing and basically not doing it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state government has ramped up the range of experts who will be on hand to give advice about its planned mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility.
US immunologist and virologist Dr Barney Graham, whose ground-breaking research on mRNA helped lead to the development of the Moderna vaccine, will join the nine-person advisory group.
The technology of mRNA teaches cells how to make a protein to trigger an immune response.
-with AAP
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