THE state government says Sunday's road map out of lockdown will drive hope and recovery to a COVID normal life.
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There were 15 new cases of coronavirus in regional Victoria with four in Geelong, two in Ballarat, one case in the Moorabool Shire and five cases in the Mitchell Shire.
Three of the cases in Geelong were so far unlinked and the two additional cases in Ballarat were household contacts of previous cases.
There were 535 new cases across Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Sadly a woman aged in her 70s from the Shepparton area died yesterday as a result of the virus.
Health Department Secretary Kate Mason said there had been increasing numbers in regional Victoria and there were concerns about the Geelong cases.
She said for three cases in Geelong it wasn't clear how the people had acquired the virus and they maybe linked to construction workers.
"In regional Victoria the risk is still there," she said.
"If you have symptoms get tested."
Health Minister Martin Foley said 414 of the new cases were aged 50 or under .
He said 207 of those people were in hospital with 56 in intensive care and 40 on a ventilator.
He said 87 per cent were unvaccinated.
Mr Foley said there were more than 45,000 vaccines administered yesterday in the state run centres and 71 per cent of eligible Victorians had received their first coronavirus vaccination.
He said there remained 5427 available appointments for the AstraZeneca vaccine and 8174 available appointments for the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
He said the Victorian community was creating a great momentum in terms of getting vaccinated and he encouraged all to "get on board."
Mr Foley said the road map, which will be announced on Sunday, would drive hope and recovery and "manage our way through" to a COVID normal life "we all long for."
He said the road map would be underpinned by the support of the Victorian community, the state health system and would be driven by vaccinations.
"It's in all of our hands," he said.
"The more who get vaccinated, the sooner we'll get there.
"Everyday we're exceeding our expectations on vaccinations."
Mr Foley addressed construction worker protests in Melbourne on Friday and said it was one of the few sectors who had continued to operate for the past 20 months.
He said to hear of poor levels of compliance in the industry including no QR codes, no covid-safe plans and failing to follow density limits was frustrating when so many cases, particularly in the regions, had been linked to the construction industry.
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