It has instead strongly recommended Victorians wear masks indoors and in crowded spaces from 11.59pm on Tuesday.

Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas confirmed she rejected the mask mandate advice from Victoria's Acting Chief Health Officer Professor Ben Cowie.

"I made a decision based on the advice that I had received that further mandating masks was not the most effective way to get the message out about the importance of mask wearing," Ms Thomas told reporters on Tuesday.

She said the new recommendations were sensible and balanced in the face of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations.

From 11.59pm on Tuesday, people who test positive to COVID-19 will also be exempt from testing and isolating for only four weeks rather than 12.

The changes follow Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice.

Employers are also being asked to consider working from home arrangements for staff, although no recommendation has been issued.

Mask mandates and other restrictions were not having the same impact they once did, Deakin University epidemiologist Professor Catherine Bennett said.

She has called for different measures to better educate the public.

"We need this to not be a one-size-fits-all message from a podium," Prof Bennett told AAP.

"This has got to be community based.

"We could do a much better job at collecting and sharing information that will help people understand the risks and how to manage them.

"We need to let people know what's happening in their local area. We need to gather the information to demonstrate what mass wearing does to a person's risk."

Cases of reinfection were also rising with the surge of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants, so people should get winter booster shots, Prof Bennett said.

The state government will start an advertising blitz promoting COVID-19 vaccine boosters, while more grants are available to small businesses who want to buy ventilators.

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it is sensible the changes are recommendations rather than mandates.

"This puts the decision-making back on the individual and businesses," chief executive Paul Guerra said in a statement.

"This is a commonsense approach which enables people to make their own decisions to protect their health, the health of their clients and their family and friends."

It comes as Victoria records 10,627 new COVID-19 cases and a further 16 deaths on Tuesday, with hospitalisation rates continuing to rise.

There are 737 people in hospital with the virus, up 20 from Monday and almost 200 over the past week.

Thirty-nine COVID-infected people are in intensive care, with seven on a ventilator.

COVID-19 hospitalisations in Victoria peaked at 1229 in mid-January during the original Omicron wave.

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