PARENTS are urged to stock up on rapid antigen tests in the rush to get back to school.
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The Courier understands RATs will no longer be handed out in most Victorian schools under state government changes.
Families and school staff will instead be able to access free tests from council-run sites. City of Ballarat's free RAT program is via Sebastopol Library.
The government's free RAT program is now open to all Victorians with all eligibility requirements now removed. Households can access two test kits per person, per visit.
There have been no clear changes to COVID-19 protocol for Victorian schools. The Courier has contacted the Victorian Education Department to clarify this.
Victoria had a near-30 per cent decline in active COVID-19 cases reported last week - but such a figure is reliant on self-reporting to Victoria's health department.
There were 52 cases recorded in Ballarat the past week, almost half the number of active infections reported a week earlier, and in stark contrast to the 621 active COVID-19 cases across the city leading into Christmas - only one month ago.
Medical experts, including those from Burnet Institute, have voiced concerns to The Age on a "mission accomplished" attitude from Australians to vaccination.
In the past three months, 5,986 COVID-19 patients were hospitalised in Victoria, according to the chief health officer's latest report. Of those hospitalised, 41.2 per cent had not received their third vaccine dose and 30.8 per cent were unvaccinated.
The report also high transmission has been fuelled by waning immunity and multiple Omicron variants.
Victorians are urged to stay COVID-safe: staying home when unwell, testing symptoms and staying up-to-date with vaccinations.
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