But state has to assume there are still cases in the community, says health minister

Mr Foley said the state had to assume there were still cases in the community, reiterating why high testing numbers remained so important.

"We remain confident that we can still get ahead of this," Mr Foley said.

"We are capable of making sure there are no further cases out there in our community. Can I thank the now more than 19,000 people who are now isolating as close contacts.

"We know that the overwhelming majority of people in that 19,000 close contact group are doing the right thing.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"But we also need to be vigilant, given the seeding of this outbreak from NSW," Mr Foley said.

Victoria's Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said 14 cases in total had now come out of the MCG.

He congratulated the Mildura community on coming forward for more than 3000 tests, with four cases there.

"What the results of the last few days show.... we've got a very large net around this breakout, and that isolation is so important," he said.

"We have to sustain that isolation, that is how we will get on top of this outbreak.

"This is a really challenging time for all of us. Please be very, very careful, we cannot afford a further spread of this virus into the community."

EARLIER:

The 26 new locally-acquired cases of coronavirus in Victoria reported this morning are all linked to the current outbreaks.

While the number is the highest Victoria has seen this year, 24 of the 26 cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.

The state's health department said there were 43,674 test results received on Wednesday.

It also reported five people were in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria, including one person in intensive care.

Meanwhile, the state's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says Victoria would be facing a "world of hurt" in coming weeks if authorities had not immediately locked down the state.

Twenty-two new local cases were reported in Victoria on Wednesday, the state's highest daily total of the current outbreak.

But Professor Sutton says he suspects the state would already be dealing with 200 to 300 cases if it had not entered lockdown a week ago, citing the highly infectious nature of the Delta variant.

"It is a variant that takes off from dozens to thousands of cases within just a matter of weeks," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"If we'd locked down today, instead of when we did, we would get thousands of cases in the next couple of weeks. We'd be in a world of hurt ... over coming weeks if we hadn't done what we've done."

Prof Sutton said he believed community transmission had peaked but expected more household cases to emerge.

He also warned the number of people in intensive care could grow, given the severity of the delta variant.

There are currently five people in hospital with COVID-19, including a man from Barwon Heads in intensive care.

See the exposure sites here.

Some 18,000 primary close contacts are self-isolating across the state, while the number of exposure sites has grown to more than 380.

Prahran Market in Melbourne's inner southeast is yet to appear on the government's official exposure site list but has been shut for deep cleaning after a positive case visited on Saturday between 9.40am and 11.15am.

The market said the health department has declared the entire building a tier-one exposure site, meaning anyone who visited during the time period must get tested and quarantine for 14 days.

- with Australian Associated Press

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