Premier Daniel Andrews says lower testing rates might be a barrier to Victoria moving forward in its COVID-19 fight despite the state's smallest rise in cases in a month.
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The Victorian government is calling on residents not to slacken off on coronavirus testing following a 17 per cent drop over the past week.
"We don't want that to be an inhibitor in any way of moving to a new phase and a new set of rules," Mr Andrews said.
"We have to have that confidence that we are getting a complete or as close to a complete picture as we possibly can."
Melbourne is in the third week of a strict level-four lockdown due to end on September 13, while the rest of Victoria is under level-three restrictions.
But the premier noted no-one would be fined if leaving home for a virus test.
Victoria had 222 new cases on Tuesday, its lowest daily total since July 18, but it was cold comfort to the families of 17 people who died.
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Tuesday's deaths take the state toll to 351 and national figure to 438.
Thirteen of the 17 deaths are linked to aged care outbreaks, with 230 total deaths in that sector.
Victoria's aged care crisis is set to head to court in coming weeks.
Heritage Care, the operator of state's worst-hit nursing home Epping Gardens, is facing a class action filed by the son of a deceased resident.
It came amid claims fellow aged care provider BlueCross asked staff at The Boulevard in Mill Park to work across multiple sites as recently as last week.
"No employer should be doing that," Mr Andrews said.
Meanwhile, an inquiry into Victoria's hotel quarantine program heard about 99 per cent of current cases can be traced back to overseas travellers at two Melbourne hotels.
The inquiry won't resume until Thursday.
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