Ballarat COVID update | Friday, November 19: 2 new cases, 24 active cases

NEW CASES: 2 (from 1 yesterday)

ACTIVE CASES: 24 ( down from 26)

Ballarat has recorded two new COVID cases as Victoria's restrictions eased overnight.

Active cases have dropped again to 24, down from 26 on Thursday.

The Moorabool Shire has recorded three new cases however the number of active cases in that LGA has dropped to 78.

The Pyrenees and Hepburn Shires have both recorded one new case while the Golden Plains Shire has recorded three new infections taking the total number of active cases to six.

VICTORIAN COVID UPDATE | Friday, November 19

NEW CASES: 1273 (Up from 1007 yesterday)

DEATHS: 8 (Up from 12 yesterday)

ACTIVE CASES: 13, 813( 13814 from yesterday)

IN HOSPITAL: 330 (down from 337 yesterday)

IN ICU: 57 (down from 63 yesterday)

ON VENTILATOR: 30 (34 from yesterday)

Victoria has recorded 1272 new COVID-19 cases and eight people have died as hospitalisation rates continue to fall.

The health department confirmed on Friday the state is managing 13, 813 total active cases.

After several days of drops, Victoria's case numbers have climbed for the second day in a row.

There are 330 virus patients in hospital, 57 in ICU are actively infected with COVID-19 with 30 on ventilators.

The state's seven-day hospitalisation average has fallen by 371.

Health officials say virus testers processed 73,020 results in the 24 hours to Thursday evening, and 5482 people were vaccinated at state-run hubs.

Victoria is now almost 90 per cent double-vaccinated in those aged over 12.

In Ballarat, the number of active cases in the city continued to fall , with just one new case confirmed.

Although today's data is yet to be released, there were just 26 active cases in the city.

Ballarat would have almost certainly passed the 95 per cent fully vaccinated mark.

The latest vaccination data, which only counted up to Sunday night, had Ballarat sitting at 94.5% double-dose rate.

Meanwhile, the Victorian government has made several changes to its pandemic legislation to address legal and human rights concerns, ahead of debate in state parliament's upper house.

AAP has confirmed the government has made seven amendments to the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021 following negotiations with key crossbench MPs.

The bill, which gives the premier and health minister the power to declare a pandemic and make public health orders, had been criticised for being too broad and lacking in parliamentary oversight.

A controversial clause that gave the health minister the ability to make orders based on a person's "characteristics, attributes or circumstances", such as age, location, vaccination status and occupation, also raised concern.

Amendments to the legislation will clarify that the premier will need "reasonable grounds" to declare a pandemic and that the application of orders based on characteristics "must be relevant to the public health risk".

The health minister will be required to confirm the role the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities has played in their decisions.

The advice behind any orders issued must be made public within a week rather than a fortnight, while the parliament's Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee will be given the power to consider any order when it is made, instead of after it is tabled.

Maximum fines for people who breach public health orders have been halved.

Health Minister Martin Foley said the amendments were the result of consultation with public health, human rights and law experts.

"The new pandemic laws will provide a clear framework for managing pandemics such as COVID-19 - while putting the safety of all Victorians first," he said in a statement.

The government is relying on the support of Animal Justice MP Andy Meddick, Reason Party MP Fiona Patten and Greens leader Samantha Ratnam to pass the bill in the Legislative Council.

They issued a joint statement on Monday night saying their advocacy had secured greater transparency and accountability in the bill.

Ms Patten said the amendments had found a delicate balance between protecting human rights and protecting the health of the community.

The debate is expected to begin on Tuesday and could continue well into Thursday night, with MPs told parliament could sit an extra day to ensure the bill passes.

The Victorian opposition also announced it would be moving 18 amendments to the bill, including limiting extensions to pandemic declarations to one month, subject to a three-fifths majority vote of both houses of parliament, and the scrapping of the characteristics clause.

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