Win for embattled Colac Otway Shire with virus cases in steep decline

The town became the centre of a significant coronavirus outbreak when a contract inspector at Australian Lamb Colac tested positive to the virus and cases soared to nearly 100 last month.

There remains eight active cases in Warrnambool, with seven of those confirmed to be linked to the Holcim quarry site at Tarrone.

The active case in Moyne Shire has been cleared, bringing the shire's cases to zero.

There are still five cases in Glenelg Shire linked to the second Portland cluster.

There are 118 cases in Geelong, 27 in Bendigo, 18 in Ballarat, four in Surf Coast Shire, one in Golden Plains, and two in Horsham.

Earlier, 12.15pm: There have been 240 new cases and 13 deaths in Victoria over the past 24 hours.

One man in their 70s, six women in their 80s and five women and a man in their 90s have died.

Eight of those are linked to aged care outbreaks.

There has been a dramatic drop in active cases in the state over the last 24 hours, down from 7155 yesterday to 4864 today, a decrease of 2291.

Deputy health officer Allen Cheng said the drop was attributed largely to patients released from isolation.

"There's very good evidence for most people that 10 days, three days after symptoms they don't need additional swabs," he said.

"There are still 240 new cases so that's too high, but that trend is coming down which is encouraging."

Mr Cheng said people are declared non-active cases following an interview.

He said people are mostly not swabbed again in that process unless they have ongoing symptoms, are in hospital with other diseases, or have an immune deficiency.

"What it does involve is making sure that their symptoms have cleared and enough time has lapsed since the start of their illness to allow them to be released from isolation," he said.

There are 622 in hospital, with 43 in intensive care and 28 on a ventilator.

An additional 20,279 tests have been conducted in the last 24 hours.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong residents in particular should come forward and get tested if they have symptoms.

There are 4864 active cases, with 4438 in metropolitan Melbourne and 295 in regional Victoria.

There are 118 cases in Geelong, 27 in Bendigo and 18 in Ballarat.

"That is good news, we had significantly higher numbers in regional Victoria and those numbers are coming right down and that's very good but you have to keep coming forward to get tested so we get a full picture," Mr Andrews said.

"Total numbers in regional Victoria are going down but we can't be complacent."

There are 33 more mystery cases with an unknown source.

Active cases in healthcare workers are at the high 700s.

Treasurer Tim Pallas said the ban on eviction and rental increases will be extended to the end of the year, December 31.

"Nobody should be worried about losing a roof over their heads right now," he said.

"We need to help tenants and landlords in these difficult times and strike the right balance and ensure those who depend on tenancy arrangements are provided adequate shelter.

"In the last four months we've seen close to 26,000 agreements for reduced rent and 8000 business rent-related enquiries."

Commercial landlords will be required to "provide rent relief in proportion with falls in turnover" and there will be further land tax reductions of 25 per cent for landlords that provide outright rent waivers of at least 50 per cent, as well as $600,000 for tenant advocacy groups.

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