BALLARAT COVID UPDATE, FRIDAY OCTOBER 15
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NEW CASES: 6
ACTIVE CASES: 73 (up from 71)
UPDATE, 12.20PM: Ballarat has recorded six COVID new cases in the 24 hours to midnight on Thursday, according to the health department.
There are two cases in 3356, two in 3352, one in 3355 and one in 3350.
There is not yet any data as to whether the cases are linked or not.
There are now 73 active Ballarat cases, up from 71 on Thursday, suggesting four patients are now listed as recoveries.
There were four new cases in Moorabool Shire, but none in Hepburn, Golden Plains or Pyrenees.
The news comes as Delacombe Primary School closes for the day due to a confirmed case and an Alfredton Primary School student is admitted to hospital with the virus.
There has not been a new exposure site added in Ballarat for two days.
COVID-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said there was a continuing "drip-feed" of new cases in regional Victoria.
Mr Weimar said there were 193 new cases in regional Victoria overnight.
The new cases also include:
- Greater Shepperton - 26 new cases
- Greater Geelong - 28 new cases
- Mildura - 34 new cases
- Baw Baw - 20 new cases
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed Mildura restrictions would be extended for another seven days.
Mr Foley said current restrictions in Mildura needed to be extended by another seven days.
He said it was a "complex" situation.
There have been 34 cases in Mildura today, higher than any other regional area.
EARLIER, 9AM: Victoria's daily COVID infections have dropped slightly, but continue to hover above 2000 new cases.
There were 2179 cases recorded in the 24 hours to midnight on Thursday, the second-biggest day on record.
There were also six deaths recorded, taking the current outbreak to 131.
There was 73,492 cases returned.
In Ballarat, there were five new cases confirmed on Thrusday, with two of them linked, according to the health department.
Today's Ballarat figures will be released later today.
A temporary marquee outside the ambulance bays at Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital will help triage COVID positive and COVID likely emergency patients from later this week.
Delacombe Primary School will close today after a positive COVID case attended the school this week, while the Alfredton Primary School cluster has grown to at least eight cases.
New data released on Thursday also showed vaccination rates by suburb. See how Ballarat postcodes are faring here.
A young Ballarat COVID survivor has also shared her tale of contracting COVID and ending up in hospital, urging people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, A COVID-19 vaccine mandate has kicked in for Victorian authorised workers, with all now needing their first dose or a scheduled booking to keep working on site.
The Victorian government gave the state's 1.25 million authorised workers a fortnight to get at least their first coronavirus vaccination by Friday - or show proof of a booking within the next week - otherwise they would be stood down.
They must then be fully vaccinated by November 26, and there are limited medical exemptions.
When the mandate was announced, most authorised workers in the state had already been partially vaccinated but it was estimated hundreds of thousands had not.
The public health order covers retail workers, personal trainers, journalists, faith leaders, judges, police, lawyers, actors, professional sportspeople and many other professions.
Tim Piper, the Victorian head of the peak employer association Ai Group, said "V-Day" was creating huge issues and some business were contacting it to report workers were refusing to get vaccinated.
"The workers have often been in their jobs many years, they may be key people in the business," Mr Piper said.
"Skilled and experienced employees are at a premium and some businesses are at their wits' end trying to decide what to do."
He reminded employers they must send the staff home if they don't comply with the order, and employees are not entitled to be paid unless they agree to take any accrued annual leave or long service leave.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he made no apology for his government's COVID-19 vaccine mandates across specific industries and the entire authorised workforce.
"These mandates, these requirements, push people to do what needs to be done," he told reporters.
A motion to ban unvaccinated MPs and staff from entering state parliament, an Australian-first and in line with the authorised worker mandate, passed both houses on Thursday.
It comes as Victoria forges ahead with its plans to ease restrictions despite reporting a record 2297 daily COVID-19 cases.
Mr Andrews said the state government wouldn't go back on its roadmap, which will end Melbourne's lockdown once the 70 per cent of those aged over 16 are fully vaccinated.
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