Victoria 'well-placed' for COVID-19 lockdown changes, says Premier

There were two new locally-acquired coronavirus cases recorded in Victoria in the past 24 hours.

Both are primary household close contacts of previously confirmed cases linked to the Holiday Inn and the private dining event in Coburg.

There are also two new cases in hotel quarantine.

READ MORE: New local Vic case worked at two hospitals

Premier Andrews said the public health team was retesting all 38 attendees of that private dining event.

He said the low figures proved the 'circuit-breaker' lockdown was working.

"I don't want to be celebrating the fact that we have additional cases. You'd always prefer no new cases, but it is fair to say that with just two contained additional community cases today, this strategy is working," he said.

"We are well-placed to be able to make changes tomorrow night.

"I'm not in a position to definitively commit to that, because these next 24 hours will, of course, be crucial.

"However, with a relatively small number of new cases, the excellent work that our contact tracing teams have done, the work of lab technicians and so many other people, we are very well placed, but we won't know and we won't be able to make a final call on that until some time tomorrow."

He said the announcements would be state-wide not region-specific.

"As I said yesterday in some detail, you can't set up a ring of steel in five minutes," he said.

"If you give people any notice whatsoever in Melbourne that there would be a stage four lockdown, logic tells you - and indeed past practice tells you - that very significant numbers of people from metropolitan Melbourne would have travelled into regional Victoria.

"We don't have cases in regional Victoria and we're determined to keep it that way."

READ MORE: Ballarat pupils and staff tested for COVID

23,950 test results were received over the past 24 hours.

The government says it's examining alternative models of mandatory quarantine, including a purpose-built accommodation hub outside Melbourne's CBD.

"This will be based in large part on the Howard Springs model," Premier Andrews said.

"It would be a cabin-style, village-style environment, where there would be fresh air, where there would be not zero risk but lower risk.

"The two obvious candidates - Avalon Airport, you've got space and you've got an international terminal and of course Melbourne Airport as well. We will pursue both of those."

DHHS testing lead Jeroen Weimar said there were now around 59 household and social primary close contacts across the Holiday Inn cases and 499 hotel quarantine staff and residents, all of whom were in isolation.

There are 1189 primary close contacts linked to the exposure sites and 1191 linked to Terminal 4 at Melbourne Airport.

The Queen Victoria Market fruit and vegetable section has been listed as a possible exposure site.

100 primary close contacts have been listed including 72 people from a primary school in Ballarat who were on a school excursion trip to the market at the time on the Thursday in question.

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