BHS has confirmed it was no longer formally caring for an overflow of COVID-19 patients from Melbourne but, with Grampians case numbers spreading, the COVID Positive Assessment Zone outside the emergency department is set to open this summer.

The aim is to detour care for people with COVID-19 or who potentially have the deadly virus from presenting in the BHS Base Hospital's emergency department.

BHS acute operations executive director Ben Kelly said standing up CPAZ was needed in providing COVID-19 care to the community.

This comes as Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley has announced eased vaccine checks and some mask rules for the festive season.

Victorians will no longer need to be fully vaccinated for non-essential retail, weddings, funerals and to use real estate services under cautious changes to the state's public health orders from Thursday to January 12.

The state reported 1405 new COVID-19 cases and a further three deaths on Wednesday, the same day Minister Foley signed pandemic orders under new laws.

"Those tweaks are of course informed largely by the relative uncertainty that the Omicron variant brings, as we start to learn more about what that means," Minister Foley said.

There were 11 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Ballarat on Wednesday, taking the city's active infection toll to 74 cases.

BHS continues to manage patients, both in their homes and in the Base Hospital, from across the Grampians region.

Mr Kelly said the health services had been hoping not to need to use CPAZ but had the marquee-like structure on standby since early November as a precaution for increases in COVID-19 cases.

"CPAZ will enable us to provide treatment to patients who have milder cases of COVID-19 separately [to emergency department patients], to limit the risk of transmission," Mr Kelly said.

"This also ensures that beds in the COVID-19 ward and in our ICU [intensive care unit] are available for patients who are experiencing more serious symptoms and who need more acute care."

Details on when CPAZ comes into actions at still to be confirmed.

Mr Kelly said another key to tackling COVID-19 transmission in the community was the use of Sotrovimab, a novel monoclonal antibody treatment, that BHS has been able to deliver to outpatients via intravenous infusion.

He said this treatment had been shown to reduce hospitalisation or death in adult COVID-19 patients by almost 80 per cent.

IN OTHER NEWS:

BHS is also encouraging anyone aged 18-plus who had their second COVID-19 vaccination more than five months ago to get a booster in the defence against the new Omicron variant.

Boosters are available in walk-up jabs in the BHS community vaccination clinic at The Mercure from Monday to Saturday, 9am to 3pm.

Grampians Public Health Unit has also been working closely with the region's general practitioners, health services and schools to roll-out COVID-19 jabs for children aged five to 11 next month.

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