In promising signs, there were 278 new cases confirmed on Thursday, the lowest daily figure recorded since July 20.

Sadly, there were eight deaths recorded, taking the total toll to 275.

One female in their 50s, two males in their 70s, two females and two males in their 80s and one male in their 90s lost their battle with the deadly disease.

Four of the eight deaths are connected to aged care outbreaks.

However, the death toll also fell considerably from previous days. There had been an average of about 20 people dying per day on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

There are 664 people in hospital, with 37 of those in intensive care - 25 of which are on a ventilator.

Victoria has recorded 15,863 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, 7866 of those are currently active.

In somewhat positive news, active cases have fallen for the second day in a row.

In Ballarat, there have been eight new cases found in the last two days, a figure which was accurate as of Wednesday afternoon.

There are 22 active COVID-19 cases in the city.

More than 200 people have been fined in the past 24 hours for breaching Victoria's coronavirus restrictions, including a man who wasn't wearing a mask because of a "bad pimple" on his chin.

Victoria Police did 4708 spot checks on homes, businesses and public places in the 24 hours to Thursday morning and fined 204 people, including 29 who were caught not wearing masks.

The pimply Port Phillip man was among them.

Some 71 people were fined for breaching Melbourne's 8pm to 5am curfew, including multiple people intercepted on their way to visit a friend.

One of them was a man who admitted to police that he was awaiting the results of a coronavirus test.

A group of seven were fined after being caught sitting in Prahran Square drinking alcohol, as well as five men celebrating a birthday in Braybrook.

Despite the relatively low numbers, Premier Daniel Andrews made a point on Wednesday that regional areas were of great concern.

"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."

In Moorabool Shire there are 12 active cases, in Golden Plains there are 11. Both shires have remained relatively stable with minimal growth in the last two weeks.

Pyrenees has two active cases and Hepburn doesn't have any.

There are currently 179 active cases in Greater Geelong and 53 in Greater Bendigo.

The Courier published an interview with respected COVID expert Dr Norman Swan yesterday, saying Ballarat people might need to further adjust their behaviour if we are to avoid a stage four lockdown.

-with AAP

The Courier has removed the paywall from our stories relating to health warnings and safety of the community in regards to the coronavirus. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.