Four coronavirus cases in regional Victoria

It brings active cases in regional Victoria back to three.

Earlier, 2.45pm: There are four active coronavirus cases in regional Victoria, with a new case being detected in Shepparton overnight.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton this morning said the Shepparton case was a "weak positive" and may turn out to be a negative result.

Close contacts of the patient have been tested.

The other regional cases are one in Colac-Otway Shire, one in East Gippsland and one in Mitchell Shire.

All other postcodes in the south-west corridor have been cleared of the virus.

The following local government areas in the south-west now have zero recorded cases: Warrnambool, Moyne, Corangamite, Glenelg, Southern Grampians, Geelong, Horsham, Moorabool, Golden Plains, Surf Coast, Bendigo and Ballarat.

The Northern Territory will ease travel restrictions on regional Victoria from next month after it "crushed" the coronavirus, and could do the same for metropolitan Melbourne.

Regional residents will be able to travel freely to the NT from November 2, so long as coronavirus case numbers remain low, the territory government announced on Monday.

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Victoria has recorded nine new cases of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 20,220.

The overall total has increased by 11 due to two cases being reclassified.

Three of today's nine new cases have been linked to known outbreaks or are considered complex cases.

These are linked to the Butcher's Club Chadstone Shopping Centre outbreak, with single cases linked to Corrigan Produce Farms Clyde North and Coles Williamstown. The other six cases remain under investigation.

Of today's nine new cases, there are four cases in Casey and single cases in Greater Dandenong, Hobsons Bay, Hume, Whittlesea and Greater Shepparton.

There have been no new deaths from COVID-19 reported since yesterday. To date, 806 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

Victoria has recorded nine new cases of coronavirus but no deaths.

One new case is in Shepparton, bringing total active cases in regional Victoria to four.

The state's death toll from the virus remains at 806 and the national figure at 894.

The figures bring Melbourne's 14-day average to 11.6 and regional Victoria to 0.3.

There have been 13 mystery cases in Melbourne between September 19 and October 2, and none in regional Victoria.

Of the 227 active cases, 30 are in hospital with two on ventilators, 29 are healthcare workers, 77 are in aged care and one is a staff member in a disability setting.

Of the healthcare cases 15 are in aged care, 13 are nursing staff and one is medical practitioner.

There have been 2.75 million test results processed, an increase of 9023 since yesterday.

"That is a good strong number, better than last weekend, it's so so important we have most complete picture and where it is spreading," Premier Daniel Andrews said.

"If you've got any symptoms please go and get tested.

"It's the most important thing you can do."

The state's call to test program has seen 5504 calls, with 2918 of those eligible for a test.

There have been 1544 tests ordered, and 1300 carried out.

Mr Andrews said the service might be expanded into regional Victoria.

For rural and regional Victoria from Monday October 5, students enrolled in Prep to Grade 6 in standalone primary schools will return to on-site learning.

From Thursday October 8, students enrolled in Prep to Grade 6 in P-12 schools will return to on-site learning.

Schools can stagger the return of year levels, depending on local circumstances.

From 12 October all school students, including Years 7 to 10 and VCE and VCAL students will return to on-site learning. Schools can stagger the return of different year levels as appropriate during this week.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the Shepparton coronavirus case was part of a rapid result test.

"The result has a high CT value, which can sometimes mean a weak positive, we're treating it as a positive but may be a negative," he said.

Close contacts have been tested, with some returning negative results and others pending results.

The Chadstone outbreak now has 24 cases, one new case and additional linked cases and include seven staff, nine family household members and three customers of the Butcher Club.

Melbourne needs a 14-day average of fewer than five cases as well as less than five mystery cases for restrictions to further ease on October 19.

Professor Sutton said the number of five was not strict and would depend on the mystery cases with an unknown source.

"We've had one or two sporadic or mystery cases per day and one or two aged care cases per day now, that's a really good trend," he said.

"Whether we get to exactly five by October 18, we're getting there.

"Chadstone speaks to the complexity of second wave cases, almost every single community case has complex links across workplaces, households and into regional Victoria that we never faced in the first wave.

"If those outbreaks are part of the 14-day average we can look at how well-controlled further spread is, it's absolutely a target but it does have some consideration of what the cases are and how they are managed.

"If there are more than five mystery cases we wouldn't rule out moving to the next stage."

Premier Andrews said he was "as confident as you can be" that the state's 14-day average would drop to fewer than five daily cases in a fortnight.

"Regional Victoria is in a different place today than they were three or four weeks ago. And hopefully on 18 or 19 October, so just in a couple of weeks' time, metro Melbourne will be in a different place than they are right now," he said.

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