This brings the total to ten new and 29 active cases in the area, according to the health department.

But COVID response commander Jeroen Weimar has said while the numbers are large the contact tracing has enabled them to track most of the Ballarat infections.

"Three of those are household primary close contacts and again, not of huge concern," Mr Weimar said.

"Three are a cluster of disability workers that we have been working with for the past week or so across a number of facilities and my thanks to those organisations for their support in contact tracing and working with their staff and clients.

"We have one case in Ballarat that comes from a party exposure in Point Cook. One case is still being investigated at this point in time."

Postcode data shows four of these cases are in the central Ballarat, the 3350 zone, three in Sebastopol, Delacombe and two in 3355 around Wendouree.

There are also two cases listed for postcode 3352 which includes some parts of Ballarat, Moorabool and Golden plains shires.

The LGA data listed by the DHHS shows a slightly larger figure than the Mr Weimar announced for Ballarat in his daily press conference.

There were also seven new cases in Moorabool with six of these in Bacchus Marsh.

Mr Weimar said the tracing teams were stepping up their efforts in Ballarat and regional cities to help them map the outbreaks.

"We have our rapid response testing teams out there across a whole number of locations including Wangaratta, Traralgon, to support the Latrobe Valley, Warrnambool, Kerang, Warragul and Ballarat, Ararat and Bacchus Marsh and across all of those regional locations and yesterday we completed over 1500 tests."

The latest figures come as the government plans to introduce rapid antigen testing with more than two million tests being purchased with a primary focus on the health care sector.

Victoria will ramp up the use the rapid tests in healthcare and possibly other high-risk settings such as childcare and education as the state prepares to reopen after hitting 70 and 80 per cent vaccination coverage targets.

"Rapid antigen testing will be a part of the ongoing toolkit to make sure that we can manage and deal with the potential for COVID in our daily lives," Mr Foley said.

Australia's medicines regulator last week gave the green light for Australians to self-test for coronavirus at home from November, subject to approval of kits.

Health authorities have been cautious in expanding the use of rapid antigen tests beyond selected workplaces because of concerns around accuracy compared to PCR swabs.

"We are investing in over 2 million tests for our health services and emergency rooms to ensure that when people do come in, we can undertake effective triage so increasing the rapid antigen testing," Mr Weimar said.

"Increasingly you will see that rapid antigen testing coming in [to] protect our health workers from further incursion but [it is] also how we address outbreaks and try to establish where the virus may have run."

Health minister Martin Foley said the tests currently cost between $10 and $22 but the price would decrease, with the current investment in the health sector expected to last several months

The government's plan is the rapid antigen testing will play a key part in enabled more businesses to open up and stay open following exposures and keep staff safe.

"I know many businesses out there have been using this rapid antigen test, the early adopters out there, but we have got many questions from organisations as a planned reopening about the role that the testing may play," Mr Weimar said

"We will be issuing guidance and guidelines and advisory notes over the coming weeks to the wider business community and on our website to guide people about the effective use of using rapid antigen testing in your environment and it's all part of a ongoing shift as we move towards opening up around everybody getting ready both as individuals and businesses about how going to maintain COVIDSafe behaviours when we do see significant transmission out there across the community."

On Wednesday the government also announced that travellers in NSW and in the ACT not in COVID red zones will face a slight easing of rules about returning

From midnight tonight, the red zones in New South Wales and the ACT, those areas not in lockdown - will change to oranges zones, meaning Victorians and non- Victorian residents returning from those areas will need to have a COVID test within 72 hours of returning and wait for a negative result prior to be free to move about the community.

"In the extreme risk zones, the lockdown areas in the ACT and New South Wales, largely Sydney but a few other regional locations determined by New South Wales Health," Health minister Martin Foley said.

"They will change from extreme risk zones to read risk zones meaning that Victorian residents can return through an online application. They would need to test and home quarantine for 14 days."

Victoria recorded 1420 cases on Wednesday and 11 deaths, the highest single day's toll this year.

Case numbers may have dropped sightly since yesterday's national record of new daily cases but the death toll is highlighting another grim side to the latest outbreak of the delta variant.

It brings the total number of deaths from the pandemic to 1368 lives from about 115,000 total cases.

The health department confirmed the statewide case figures on Wednesday, following six days of four figure infections.

It has pushed the number of active infections in the state to 14,410.

More than 71,451 Victorians were tested for the virus in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, while vaccinations were administered at state-run sites.

There were also 36, 542 vaccines administered.

Ballarat had seven new cases announced yesterday and several new exposure sites were added.

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.

READ MORE:

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.

READ MORE.

ALL the listed exposure sites here

Yesterday the government said Victoria was "on track" to ease restrictions as planned despite recording the nation's highest daily number of new COVID-19 infections.

There were 1763 new locally acquired cases and four deaths; a man in his 80s from the local government area of Whittlesea, a woman in her 70s from Hume, a man in his 60s from Whitehorse and a woman in her 60s from Banyule.

The deaths take the toll from the latest outbreak to 57, while the number of active infections in the state has soared to 14,368.

Tuesday's tally is the highest recorded in any Australian state or territory since the start of the pandemic, surpassing NSW's peak of 1599 local cases on September 11.

Despite the spike in infections, Premier Daniel Andrews said he was committed to ending lockdown when 70 per cent of Victorians aged above 16 are fully vaccinated against the virus. Further restrictions are set to ease at the 80 per cent mark.

About 83 per cent of Victorians have received their first jab, while almost 54 per cent are double-vaccinated.

The government expects the 70 per cent double-dose target will be met about October 26 and 80 per cent about November 5.

"We are on track to meet the targets. We may be ahead of schedule but I don't want any sense of complacency to creep in," Mr Andrews told reporters.

"At this stage, I've got no advice that we have to alter anything on the roadmap. I want to try to give people as much freedom as fast as I can, as safe as possible."

To help reach vaccination targets, the government will target 27 suburbs with under 75 per cent vaccination coverage including Campbellfield, Dandenong, Deer Park, Frankston North, Footscray, St Kilda and Kensington.

Health department deputy secretary Kate Matson said vaccination was helping to stabilise case numbers in Melbourne's north and west, though the areas still accounted for 681 and 514 of the new infections respectively.

In the southeast, there were 370 new cases including 131 in Casey.

"This rate has tripled and is showing the largest growth in Melbourne," Ms Matson said.

"As we've said before, COVID is around everywhere in metropolitan Melbourne. Please do act as if it is."

There are 517 Victorians in hospital battling the virus, up 19 from Monday, with 101 people in ICU and 66 requiring a ventilator.

Of those in hospital, 66 per cent were unvaccinated, 28 per cent had one dose and six per cent were fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, the City of Latrobe, which encompasses the Gippsland towns of Traralgon, Morwell and Moe, will emerge from lockdown at 11.59pm on Tuesday.

The region was plunged into a seven-day lockdown last week after an AFL grand final weekend party led to the widespread transmission of the virus.

Vaccination coverage has since grown in the region by six per cent and most cases have been linked.

Construction workers were also allowed to return to sites on Tuesday after a two-week shutdown of the industry in Melbourne and some regions.

All on-site workers must now have at least their first vaccine dose and be fully vaccinated by November 13, while operators need to formally declare their site complies with the new industry directions.

Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said 99 per cent of workers on the Metro Tunnel have had their first jab along with 95 per cent of those at level crossing removal sites.

The overall vaccination coverage of the entire construction workforce remains unknown, but Ms Allan says data will be collected in coming days.

Where can I get tested: Click here to see where you can get a COVID test.

- with AAP

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