ELECTIVE surgeries will resume next week after Victoria recorded no new locally acquired cases of coronavirus for the first time in weeks today.
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The Health Department on Friday confirmed there were no new local cases in the state and just one new case in hotel quarantine.
It marks the first day without a local case of COVID-19 since late May, when a family tested positive for the virus and ended the state's 86-day streak without a case of community transmission.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says the week ahead "probably won't be all zero cases", citing the thousands of close contacts of infected cases who are continuing to isolate at home.
"We are going to get days of zero, I expect there will be more, and I also expect there will be days and we have new cases each day. It isn't over yet. We are on the right track," Professor Sutton said.
From today Victorians enjoy further easing of restrictions, with different rules in regional Victoria.
"From Tuesday next week, hospitals will be able to restart their elective surgery lists, giving Victorians certainty they will get the care that they need," Minister Merlino said.
"It is not as simple as flicking a switch; hospitals need time to scale up.
"They need staff and resources available to ensure that Victorians needing surgery will receive world-class care that our health services have always provided.
"We will work hard to clear the backlog as quickly as possible."
Victoria's current outbreak spread through the local government area of Whittlesea and the seaside suburb of Port Melbourne and forced Melbourne into a two-week "circuit breaker" lockdown, which ended on Friday.
Some 17,604 Victorians were tested in the 24 hours to Friday morning, while 20,752 received a coronavirus vaccine dose.
IN OTHER NEWS
There are 75 active cases of COVID-19 in the state, including those in hotel quarantine, down from 78 on Thursday.
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