Victoria has recorded 1763 cases in a single day, the largest yet for this pandemic of COVID-19.
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There were also four more deaths.
Ballarat had 14 active cases as of late Monday. New cases identified for Ballarat at the weekend were linked, and new exposure sites across the city have been confirmed.
The health department confirmed the statewide case figure on Tuesday, following five days of new four figure infections.
It has pushed the number of active infections in the state to 14, 368.
More than 62, 189 Victorians were tested for the virus in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, while vaccinations were administered at state-run sites.
There were also 35, 253 vaccines administered.
Ballarat had two new cases announced yesterday and several new exposure sites were added but tier two exposure sites were unlikely to be listed after several days due to an inundation of the health department contract tracer team.
Ballarat Health Services in a media statement said there was likely to be a rise in cases as the state moves towards living with COVID-19. BHS reiterated this made vaccinations for those aged 12-plus increasingly important as was people continuing to check in with QR codes and maintain social distancing, masks and hygiene.
Anyone who has visited a contact exposure site is urged to get tested immediately and isolate: until negative results are returned for tier two and for 14 days if tier one.
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Construction workers in Melbourne and other locked-down areas including Moorabool have been able to return to worksites on Tuesday, as long as they follow strict safeguards and have had at least their first jab.
The industry-wide mandate, and other restrictions brought in to curb transmission, sparked a protest outside the CFMEU's Melbourne headquarters on September 20, the day the state government announced the sector would down tools for a fortnight-long reset.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said tens of thousands of construction workers had since come forward to meet the first-dose requirement, but could not say what proportion of the industry is now vaccinated.
"I haven't asked the question," he told reporters on Monday.
Professor Sutton believes the building industry is ready for Tuesday's restart, having learned a "hard lesson" and reflected on compliance issues with masks and tearooms.
"We can absolutely turn it around," he said.
The return to work comes as Victoria reviews 14-day isolation requirements for close contacts in schools as some regional students headed back to classrooms on Monday.
Prof Sutton confirmed close contact isolation protocols for COVID-positive cases at schools were changing and would depend on the level of exposure and vaccination status among student and teachers.
"The (exposed) class will be the most at-risk contacts, obviously, but other classes won't necessarily need to quarantine at home," he said.
"We certainly won't have the entire school quarantining for a full 14-day period."
Victoria reported 1377 new local cases - the fifth day in a row of four-figure infections - and four deaths on Monday, taking the toll for the current outbreak to 53.
Education Minister James Merlino said 33 VCE students from COVID-19 hotspots were among the new cases, after 8000 were tested in the lead up to Tuesday's repeatedly rescheduled General Achievement Test.
The students are being contact-traced and will not be able to sit the GAT, but can take their exams at a later date.
The state government also announced repurposed dental vans will be rolled out to administer COVID-19 vaccinations, boosting rates in the state's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Where can I get tested: Click here to see where you can get a COVID test.
The first dedicated van will this week stop in locked-down Greater Shepparton, which has the largest Indigenous population in Victoria outside of Melbourne.
Some 65 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Victoria have received at least one dose.
That rate is higher than other states but lower than Victoria's broader population, with 82.8 per cent of residents 16 and over having received their first shot and 52.5 per cent fully vaccinated.
When Victoria hits 70 per cent double-dose vaccination of its 16-plus population, the state's sixth lockdown will end, with restrictions due to ease further at 80 per cent.
The indicative dates for reaching the 70 per cent (October 26) and 80 per cent (November 5) targets are "more or less the same" as initially forecast, Prof Sutton said.
Melbourne became the world's most locked-down city on Monday, chalking up 246 days living under stay-at-home orders to surpass the record set by the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires.
Prof Sutton said the pandemic had been an "awful crisis" but impacted Melbourne more than other Australian cities, citing the sluggish vaccination rollout as partly to blame.
"That is the vulnerability that means you have to have a lockdown to manage potentially catastrophic numbers and catastrophic numbers of deaths," he said.
- with AAP
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