NEW CASES: 154 (up from 63 yesterday)

ACTIVE CASES: 875 (down from 898 yesterday)

Ballarat's run of new daily COVID cases below 100 has come to an end, with 154 new infections reported in the 24 hours to midnight, Monday.

Today's cases are a sharp increase on 63 cases reported on Monday, which was the lowest daily tally in Ballarat since January 3.

The number of active cases in the city sits on 875, continuing the downward trend the city has seen in the last few days.

In nearby local government areas:

VICTORIAN COVID UPDATE | Tuesday, January 25

NEW CASES: 14,836 (up from 11,695 yesterday)

DEATHS: 29 (up from 17 yesterday)

ACTIVE CASES: 183,154 (down from 186,073 yesterday)

IN HOSPITAL: 1,057 (up from 998 yesterday)

IN ICU: 119 (same as yesterday)

ON VENTILATOR: 45 (down from 47 yesterday)

Victoria has recorded its highest daily COVID-19 death toll since its second wave, on the two-year anniversary of Australia's first case being discovered in Melbourne.

The state reported 29 virus-related deaths and 14,836 new cases on Tuesday, including 6297 from PCR tests and 8539 from rapid antigen tests.

The deaths are the highest confirmed in a single day since September 4, 2020, when Victoria posted 59 fatalities amid Melbourne's 112-day lockdown.

It marked Victoria's deadliest day of the pandemic, while Tuesday's figure of 29 was the third highest daily death toll.

The grim result came two years to the day since the first case of COVID-19, then known as the novel coronavirus, was announced in Australia.

In Ballarat, the number of daily cases dropped to their lowest point in three weeks on Monday.

The updated daily figures will be released later today.

There were 63 Ballarat cases confirmed on Monday, the lowest mark since January 3.

Meanwhile, school principals across Victoria are preparing for back to school with an extra special delivery.

Mount View Primary School principal Glenn Butler is one of many who received RAT testing kits on Monday, ahead of the beginning of term one.

It's part of more than 14 million testing kits going to schools as part of a four-week surveillance regime for students and staff.

Some 6.6 million of the RATs will be delivered to government, Catholic and independent primary and secondary schools before the start of term one, as well as kindergartens and childcare centres.

Parents will be tasked with testing their children from home twice a week and notifying the school if a result is positive.

Premier Daniel Andrews says the RATs will be doled out to schools across the state in the lead-up to classes returning on January 31.

"It is about finding as many cases as we can and shutting down those chains of transmission," he told reporters on Sunday.

The cost of supplying the tests will be split 50/50 between the Victorian and federal governments under an existing arrangement.

A third immunisation dose will also become compulsory for Victorian teachers and other education staff by February 25, or within three months and two weeks of when they had their second jab.

Education Minister James Merlino says 99.7 per cent of staff were double-dose vaccinated by the end of term four last year.

Air purifiers have also been delivered to Victorian public and low-fee independent schools to increase ventilation in classrooms and other areas.

In addition, a pool of inactive or retired teachers, principals and other education staff are being recruited to plug expected COVID-related gaps in the workforce after term one begins.

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