However, an earlier easing of restrictions for regional Victoria, except for Shepparton which is continuing to record new cases, has been flagged for next week, subject to public health advice.
It came as Victoria recorded its biggest day of case numbers since the second wave in 2020, with 120 new locally-acquired cases and two deaths from COVID-19.
Five of today's cases are in Shepparton and all were in quarantine already.
Premier Daniel Andrews said on Wednesday the chief health officer’s advice over recent days had fundamentally changed due to a “dramatic shift in the nature and number of cases”.
There are now 895 locally acquired active cases and 122 are mystery cases.
“We will not see these case numbers go down, they are going to go up. The question is by how many and how fast,” he said.
“What we must do is supress case numbers to buy us time to get people vaccinated.
“We can’t ease restrictions today in any profound way, in fact we are in for a challenging time over these coming weeks.”
From midnight tomorrow, playgrounds will be open for children under 12, with only one parent or carer, and adults should not remove their masks to eat or drink.
Playgrounds will also have QR codes for checking in.
In-home care – like babysitters – will be expanded to school aged children but only if both parents are authorised workers.
Mr Andrews said until the state reaches 70 per cent of residents having received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, expected by September 23, all other restrictions would stay in place.
When this milestone is reached, Mr Andrews flagged changes including extending the 5km radius to 10km for shopping and exercise, outdoor exercise permitted for three hours instead of two and construction sites increasing to 50 per cent, where 90 per cent of the workforce is vaccinated.
A priority vaccination program will also begin on Tuesday, September 7 for year 12 students, their teachers and examiners to be vaccinated in time for exams.
Until September 17, they will receive priority booking access at state-run clinics and bookings will open on September 6.
Meanwhile in NSW, fully vaccinated residents can look forward to dining out and going to events once 70 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated – expected as early as mid-October.
The state recorded 1116 new cases and four deaths overnight.
“September is the month when we’re asking everybody to get ready,” Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
“Get vaccinated if you’re an individual and if you’re a business start dusting off your COVID safety plan, make sure your employees are vaccinated so we can get back to life at 70 per cent double dose vaccination.
“When we hit 80 per cent which we anticipate will be in November, NSW looks forward to having our citizens enjoy international travel… and stepping up and welcoming thousands of Australians home.
“It is impossible to eliminate the Delta strain. NSW has proved successful until this point in time in getting rid of other strains of COVID but the Delta strain is a game changer and every state in Australia, sooner or later, is going to have to live with Delta.”
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