There were 115 new cases outside of Melbourne which is now seven percent of of the total new cases reported yesterday.

Ballarat currently has 36 active cases.

Acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said many of the cases were connected to existing infections.

"On a positive note, the majority of these have been linked to existing cases," Professor Cowie said.

"There were eight new cases in Ballarat, again, all linked to known cases."

Seven of he cases were listed in the 3350 postcode with another case in the Sebastopol/Delacombe area according to DHHS data.

Moorabool, currently in lockdown had another five cases with all of these listed in the Bacchus Marsh area.

There were also 16 new cases in Geelong.

"And of note, 11 new cases in the Mount Alexander Shire," Professor Cowie said.

"The acquisition source of these cases is currently unknown, but investigations are under way and they are spread across two households."

He also said a decision on Moorabool's lockdown, due to end at midnight Friday would be made tomorrow but that the use of lockdowns would decrease as vaccination rates rose.

"We are seeing increasing case numbers in many parts of the regions," Professor Cowie said.

"[Lockdowns] buy time, it is a circuit breaker. It allows health services and all of those responding to have a bit of time to get their responses in order."

"Extended lockdowns in regional areas, as is the case of metropolitan Melbourne are going to become increasingly rare, and the way we bring it forward and do it safely is to get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can right now."

Professor Cowie also announced a pop-up vaccination centre at Mount Rowan Secondary College in partnership with Yuille Park P8 Community College this weekend.

BHS is working with the schools on the bookings. The school communities are encouraged to check their school communications about possible vacancies at the Sunday clinic.

Professor Cowie stressed that the vast majority of those who were getting sick from COVID were those who had not taken up the best preventative step.

"From the seven days to Tuesday this week, we have had about 10,000 cases of COVID-19. Of these cases, 7% were fully vaccinated, 15% were partially vaccinated and 79% were unvaccinated - no doses of vaccine.

"And this is unfortunate because it is despite the fact that 87% of the cases were eligible for vaccination at the time that they were diagnosed with COVID-19.

"We have the hard, underlying fact that shows how much more likely you [the unvaccinated] are to get COVID, to pass it onto your and family, and, most importantly perhaps, to end up in intensive care, tragically, to lead to further loss of life if you choose not to the vaccine."

On Thursday Victoria added another 1638 cases in a single day along with two deaths.

Case numbers may have dropped sightly for the second day since Tuesday's national record of new daily cases, but the expected high numbers continue.

The two new deaths bring the total number of deaths from the pandemic to 1370.

The number of active infections in the state is now 15,074.

A huge number of Victorians were tested yesterday for the virus with 77, 238 test processed, while another 36, 672 vaccinations were administered at state-run sites.

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

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

In Melbourne authorities are racing to identify all vulnerable young patients who were exposed to a COVID-19 outbreak at a Melbourne children's hospital cancer ward.

A patient's parent spent at least four days at the Royal Children's Hospital in Parkville while infectious, with the exposure period stretching from October 1 to October 4.

A hospital spokeswoman said contact tracing was still underway on Wednesday night, and as a result these dates may change.

The hospital's Kookaburra cancer care ward has been identified as a tier one exposure site, and its main street walkway has been listed as a tier two site for September 26.

RCH chief executive Bernadette McDonald said all affected patients, parents or carers have been placed into single rooms at the hospital to quarantine for 14 days, with contact tracing for all others underway.

No children in the cancer ward had tested positive as of Wednesday evening, but the hospital has 12 COVID-positive patients in its care, four in other wards and eight being treated at home.

Ms McDonald said some children are turning up to the hospital with other illnesses or injuries and then testing positive for COVID.

But she said: "We're not seeing extreme illness in children."

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

It comes as Victoria recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic's third wave, after 11 people were reported to have died with COVID-19 on Wednesday. The state also reported 1420 new locally acquired cases.

The state government has announced Victorians stranded in the ACT and NSW will be able to return home as border restrictions eased overnight.

Areas considered red zones in NSW and the ACT have been downgraded to orange zones, allowing residents and non-residents to enter Victoria if they take a test within 72 hours of arrival and isolate until receiving a negative result.

Meanwhile, extreme risk zone classifications for locked-down areas such as Greater Sydney have been downgraded to red, meaning people can return if they isolate at home for 14 days.

- with AAP

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.