12.15pm

The Victorian government has not ruled out keeping their border with NSW closed even once the national vaccination targets are reached.

Health Minister Martin Foley said the virus had spread out of Sydney to regional areas and was 'creeping ever closer to the Victorian border'.

"Victoria has always made their position clear," he said.

"In a relative sense our biggest threat is importing this virus again from NSW. This is where it came from in the last couple of incursions.

"We can't send it back, I wish we could, but what we can do is take all the measures the public health team recommend to us to keep that border protection as strong as possible.

"Given the deteriorating position in NSW I don't think I can rule out further measure being taken."

Asked if the border could remained closed even when Australia hits vaccination rates of 70 or 80 per cent, Mr Foley said 'how long is a piece of string'.

"Let's what the position in NSW is when we as a nation get to 70 or 80 percent," he said.

"That would only be the responsible thing for any government state or Commonwealth to do."

11.39am

Nine of Victoria's 45 new cases are linked to the Shepparton/Royal Melbourne outbreak says Health department deputy secretary Kate Matson.

The total number of cases linked to Shepparton and Royal Melbourne is 66.

Mr Foley said the Shepparton outbreak had so many close contacts and the government was working with health and food distribution services to ensure the community gets all the support needed.

11.30pm

Deputy Premier James Merlino said the priority for the government is to make sure all year 12 students were vaccinated before sitting their exams on October 4.

"That is our priority," he said.

"We want to make sure they're vaccinated before their exams start."

Mr Merlino said they want all children over 12 to have received one vaccine dose before the end of the year.

PREVIOUSLY:

The current Victorian COVID crisis is an "outbreak of the young" says Health Minister Martin Foley.

Mr Foley said of the current active cases 114 are aged under nine, 101 are children aged between ten and 19 and 89 are people in 20s.

He said it was heartening to see a decrease in case numbers over the past couple of days, but the numbers do jump around and there was still a lot of work to do.

Victoria recorded 45 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to midnight yesterday.

The majority of the cases - 28 - were infectious while in the community.

36 in hospital, nine ICU and seven on a ventilator.

Only 17 were in isolation throughout their infectious period.

IN OTHER NEWS:

36 cases are linked to known outbreaks, but nine mystery cases remain under investigation.

31,629 COVID vaccinations were administered and 53,321 tests received in the 24 hours to midnight.

Yesterday NSW recorded 753 cases, Victoria recorded 50 and ACT recorded 30.

Murrumbidgee Local Health District revealed new exposure sites in Temora and Beckom after a positive case attended various premises.

Yesterday, the Victorian government announced from today residents aged between 16 and 39 will be able to receive either AstraZeneca of Pfizer at state run vaccination clinics.

After the announcement Victorian government's vaccination website crashed after thousands of young people tried to secure a booking for a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

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