NEW CASES: 9 (up from 4 yesterday)

ACTIVE CASES: 66 (up from 60 yesterday)

UPDATE, 3.30pm: Ballarat has recorded nine new COVID-19 hours in the 24 hours to midnight on Tuesday.

The latest daily figures have increased following a number of days of lower numbers in the city.

There are four new cases in the 3350 and 3356 postcodes, plus one in the 3355 postcode.

Seven of the cases are linked and two are under investigation.

There are now 66 active cases in the city.

Ballarat Body and Soul Genesis 24/7 Gym on Humffray Street South has been added as a new exposure site. Anybody who attended the gym on Tuesday, October 5 from 10.06am-11.46am must get tested and quarantine immediately for 14 days from exposure.

In areas surrounding Ballarat, there were seven cases in Moorabool (49 active), one in Golden Plains (five active), none in Pyrenees (four active) and none in Hepburn (three active).

EARLIER, 11.30am: Neighbourhood vaccination clinics will pop up at cafes, shops and gyms to ramp up COVID-19 inoculation coverage in Victorians.

The first will open at a cafe in Mernda Junction on Melbourne's northern fringes on Wednesday with more to follow.

"These neighbourhood pop-up models are designed to support Victorians to get access to vaccine, Pfizer in particular, in the most convenient, familiar and easy to deal with locations," Health Minister Martin Foley said on Wednesday.

The extra vaccination push comes as Victora records its deadliest day of its third wave, the Royal Children's Hospital reveals a COVID-19 scare in its neonatal unit and a regional shire moves out of lockdown.

Victoria has recorded 1571 new locally acquired infections and 13 deaths, taking the toll of the current outbreak to 114.

See how the regional Victorian vaccination race is playing out here.

The latest deaths are nine men and four women, aged from their 50s to 90s.

There was also one new case acquired from overseas and 79,200 tests processed on Tuesday.

The health department on Wednesday confirmed there are now 19,861 active infections across the state.

More than 38,000 Victorians received a COVID vaccine on Tuesday at a state-run hub.

Visitors to the Royal Children's Hospital will now have to undergo rapid antigen testing after a potentially infectious parent visited the newborn intensive care unit.

Hospital chief executive Bernadette McDonald told reporters a father visited the unit on Thursday and Friday last week and returned a positive result on Monday, notifying the hospital that evening.

Of the 29 babies in the unit at the time, two are tier one close contacts and the remainder are tier two, with the infants and their families all now isolating. No transmission to the babies has yet been found.

Ms McDonald said while the numbers varied, on average there were about five patients at the children's hospital with COVID-19 at any one time, treated in negative pressure rooms.

The hospital's cancer ward was exposed to the virus at the beginning of this month, when a patient's parent tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting over at least four days.

Elective surgeries will be paused from Thursday as the state prepares for an influx of coronavirus patients in coming weeks. Currently there are 705 people in hospital, of which 146 are in ICU including 92 on a ventilator.

Victoria is also seeking to recruit up to 1000 healthcare workers from outside Australia to help the system cope as virus patients grow.

As of Tuesday, almost 60 per cent of Victorians aged over 16 were fully vaccinated, while 86.7 per cent have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose.

EARLIER, 9.30am: Victoria has recorded its deadliest day of the current outbreak, with 13 people dying in one day.

The death toll is the highest in one day from the outbreak so far, which has so far claimed 114 lives.

It follows consecutive days of eight deaths earlier this week.

In total, there was 1571 new cases confirmed in the 24 hours to midnight on Tuesday.

There was a massive 79,200 tests conducted yesterday.

There are now 19,861 active cases throughout the state.

Today's 1571 cases follows yesterday's 1466 cases, 1612 on Monday, 1890 new cases on Sunday and 1965 cases on Saturday.

More information about the new cases, including new Ballarat figures, is expected to be released later today.

The new figures come as Ballarat's vaccination uptakes surges at unprecedented levels.

More than 92% of the eligible population have now received their first COVID vaccination in Ballarat, while the fully vaccinated rate has increased to 63.5%.

There was just one new exposure site listed in Ballarat yesterday; the City Oval Hotel.

There were four new cases confirmed in Ballarat yesterday, two in the Winter Valley postcode of 3358, one in 3350 and one in 3355.

Meanwhile, dozens of vulnerable newborns have been placed at risk after an infected person visited a Melbourne children's hospital NICU ward.

A Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne spokeswoman has confirmed there was an "exposure in our NICU", with rapid antigen testing to be introduced for all parents and carers.

The Herald Sun reports 29 vulnerable newborns have potentially been exposed to the virus, with two babies considered tier one contacts.

RCH will give an update on the situation later on Wednesday morning.

The hospital's cancer ward was exposed to the virus at the beginning of this month, after a patient's parent tested positive for COVID-19 after visiting over at least four days.

Elective surgeries will be paused from Thursday as the state prepares for an influx of coronavirus patients in coming weeks.

Victoria is also seeking to recruit up to 1000 healthcare workers from outside Australia.

"As COVID cases increase ... we will be progressively seeking to switch off elements of non-urgent care," Mr Foley said on Tuesday.

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