Premier Daniel Andrews has hinted that the further easing of COVID-19 restrictions could occur in regional Victoria at the end of the week.
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With coronavirus numbers remaining extremely low outside of Melbourne, Mr Andrews on Monday suggested further reopening of society in the regions could be announced at week's end.
He had previously highlighted Sunday, October 18 as the date in which metropolitan Melbourne could potentially take a step out of lockdown.
However, Melbourne has been unable to get new daily cases down to single digits for the past six days, meaning a new roadmap with different goals could even be drafted.
In the regions, there has not been a mystery case since September 1 - 40 days ago.
Mr Andrews thanked regional Victorians for working hard to keep the numbers down.
"It's got the numbers low and it's keeping them low, so that will make some further steps possible once we get to the end of the week," he said.
There are only five active COVID-19 cases in regional Victoria, all of which are in the Mitchell Shire.
The Mitchell Shire was originally grouped in with metropolitan Melbourne when the first lockdown was imposed.
In Ballarat, there has not been a new case for 50 days.
As part of the roadmap out of restrictions, regional Victoria had originally been required to wait until there were no new cases for 14 days throughout the state, which would require waiting for Melbourne's numbers to drop significantly.
However, Mr Andrews has recently suggested regional Victoria's reopening might not be necessarily dependent on Melbourne.
On Monday he also said the government would consider drafting a new recovery roadmap, despite the "inherit risks" that would accompany reopening.
"It might be a point where we have to call it and say 'this is as good as it's going to get'," he said.
"To achieve that lower number might mean we are locked down for too long.
"When you make forecasts (such as the roadmap), it's always subject to what happens."
There were 15 new cases confirmed on Monday morning, with 191 cases still active in Victoria.
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