Ballarat has 10 new cases but Professor Brett Sutton said these were all known contacts of existing cases.

"For regional Victoria, there were 113 new cases which is 6 per cent of all the new cases. That is about steady, " Professor Sutton said

Professor Suttton said there were also seven cases in Moorabool, three linked to known cases and four under investigation and he would make a decision later today about whether their lockdown would be lifted after studying the data and what he described as "pretty good" vaccination rates.

He also announced schoolchildren in grade three and above will be required to wear masks indoors at school while for kids in prep to grade two it will be strongly recommended but not mandated

"There is good evidence to support this decision," he said.

Jane Munro, a paediatrician at the Royal Children's Hospital and a medical advisor at the Department of Health said the mask wearing was the simplest step to get kids back into the classroom and reduce the risks both to the children and their families who they could pass COVID onto.

"We need to get our kids back at school and keep them at school," she said.

"This decision for kids to wear masks at school is a good one. It is backed by good science.

"It is simple, it is safe. There are no health risks for a child wearing a mask. It is easy to do and it is also common sense.

"In the next month, over 1 million Victorian children are going to return to 2276 schools, and I am told that is over 30,000 classrooms, so indoor settings. "

"I am also very comfortable that there are options here in this policy decision for children who have issues with mask wearing," she said.

"Kids are great. They adapt. They are resilient and we can easily show them the way about how to wear a mask. We all need to work together as a community to make that happen."

Ms Munro said the three pronged mantra of ventilate, vaccinate and covid safe steps were the key to getting children back into the classroom of all ages.

"Primary school kids unlike teenagers, there is not a vaccine available for them yet, and also, if you note kids, they move around a lot in classrooms in primary school and they also tend to sneeze, to snot on each other and even to lick each other sometimes and that is gross but it is reality, so trying to stop aerosol spread is really important."

Police resourcing is also likely to return closer to normal with the widening of the border bubbles and scaling back of the border checkpoints.

Local police will take over at state borders and 300 police members working there will be redeployed.

"100 police resources originally earmarked to work at the state border will be redeployed to Operation Guardian to patrol the metro regional border," Victoria police said in a statement.

"The remaining 200 resources will return to their original place of work or to assist with COVID-19 enforcement operations."

Earlier Victoria recorded another 1838 new COVID cases along with 5 deaths, the highest single case load of the pandemic in Australia

It is the ninth straight day the state has reported more than 1000 cases, with active infections soaring to 16,823.

There are now 564 Victorians in hospital battling the virus, an increase of more than 40 per cent from a week ago, including 115 in intensive care and 74 on a ventilator.

A huge number of Victorians were tested yesterday for the virus with 77, 554 tests processed, also a record while another 36600 vaccinations were administered at state-run sites.

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.

Ambulance Victoria on Friday also confirmed it will be introducing new measures from next week as it braces for a growing number of COVID-19 patients. For the first time in its history, two paramedics will no longer be deployed in each ambulance.

A single paramedic may instead be joined by a driver from the Australian Defence Force, St John Ambulance Australia, State Emergency Service or a student.

The service has had four of its five busiest days in history in the last two weeks.

READ MORE.

ALL the listed exposure sites here

Victoria's coronavirus infection numbers continue to climb as the state faces an anxious wait for COVID-19 restrictions to ease, while watching NSW enjoy new freedoms.

There are now more than 15,000 active coronavirus cases in the state after Victoria reported 1638 new cases on Thursday - the second-highest daily figure of any state or territory since the pandemic began.

More Victorians are being hospitalised while battling the virus, with 39 people admitted on Wednesday, bringing the total in hospital to 564.

The death toll is also rising, with two more deaths reported on Thursday, taking the toll from the current outbreak to 70.

Premier Daniel Andrews said daily cases were "higher than we'd like them to be" and urged Melburnians and regional residents in lockdown to follow the rules for a couple more weeks.

Once 70 per cent of the state's population above 16 is fully vaccinated, expected around October 26, Melbourne's curfew will ease, the travel limit will be expanded and venues can open outdoors to the fully vaccinated.

But Victorians will have to wait until the 80 per cent double-dose target for significant changes, forecast for November 5, including Melbourne hospitality reopening for seated service and visitors to be allowed in homes.

Conversely, fully vaccinated adults in NSW will receive a swathe of new freedoms from Monday, with up to 10 adults allowed to visit homes, and people allowed to eat at restaurants and go to the gym.

Mr Andrews said he had no plans to alter Victoria's roadmap out of lockdown, but the state opposition said the premier's plan "doesn't cut it".

The opposition is calling for a return of customer density limits at the 70 per cent target, paving the way for hospitality venues to open indoors.

Meanwhile, a Victoria Police officer has been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 after working at recent anti-vaccine protests in Melbourne CBD.

At least two officers from an inner-city police station are infected with the virus, while 25 police have been stood down due to potential exposure, the police union said.

- with AAP

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