Premier Daniel Andrews has urged Ballarat people to be prepared to fight COVID-19 for an extended period.
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Speaking in his daily press conference on Wednesday, Mr Andrews mentioned regional Victoria specifically in his opening address.
He thanked regional Victorians for following the rules and keeping numbers relatively low, but warned the battle was a long way from being over.
Mr Andrews mentioned Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo specifically, all of which are seeing rising numbers.
Speaking about the whole state, he even warned restrictions could be in place until 2021 if Victoria did not get on top of the virus.
Ballarat has fared relatively well compared to the other two cities thus far, but did see four new cases confirmed on Tuesday.
There were 20 active cases in Ballarat as of Tuesday afternoon, but 180 in Greater Geelong and 54 in Greater Bendigo.
"We have seen some increases of concern to us in Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo," Mr Andrews said.
"They are stable, they are very low numbers, but coming off such a low base any additional numbers are of concern to us."
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In the last 24 hours in Ballarat there have been cases confirmed at a Hungry Jack's in Wendouree and Lucas Kindergarten, while Alfredton Primary School is closed today for a deep clean.
Mr Andrews urged the people of Ballarat to continue following all the government rules and directions.
"You've done a great job in following these rules right throughout the pandemic but it's really important each and every regional Victorian follows the course with this," he said.
"This is really an endurance test, people are frustrated.
"We know people are wanting to find that COVID-normal, but that's not for now, that's some time away.
"We need to stay the course, we need make sure we don't let the virus win by not following the rules and making choices that contribute to its spread."
Like yesterday, Mr Andrews asked all Melburnians to avoid travelling to regional areas and vice versa.
"I just ask people to give that little bit of extra thought to that and if there's any sense that that trip could be avoided, that that travel could be limited, well then that is conducive with less movement, less cases and getting to the other side of this," he said.
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