More than 400 Albury-Wodonga residents learned they had COVID-19 this weekend.
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The high number of new cases - likely due to rapid antigen tests increasingly being reported - comes as the resource is set to become more accessible for some.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the first of three million rapid antigen tests purchased by his government would begin to be rolled out on Monday.
"They will be distributed to this who are working in sensitive settings ... (or are) more vulnerable," he said.
Mr Andrews said announcements would be made soon about the return to school.
"We will have school open on day one of term one and we will make that environment as safe as we possibly can, whether it's through the roll-out of air filters or educating in a different way," he said.
"We'll have more to say on what school will look like."
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Sunday he was committed to releasing their return-to-school plan following National Cabinet.
"We're working very closely with the Victorian Government to get as much alignment as possible," he said.
"The orders (of RATs) that we've procured today and a number continuing to arrive over the course of this week, commencing from tomorrow, will be used to ensure the ongoing functioning of government services across the state.
"My expectation is that you will see those in schools, in health care (and) in transport for our workers to ensure functioning."
A man in his 20s who died at Albury Base Hospital was among 40 people whose deaths at the weekend were reported by NSW Health as related to COVID-19.
A man in his 50s from the Murrumbidgee Local Health District also died, but at a Melbourne Hospital.
NSW Health said the younger man "had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine and had serious underlying health conditions".
"We express our sincere condolences to their loved ones," a spokesperson said.
"This brings the total number of COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since the beginning of the pandemic to 848."
Mr Perrottet said deaths in vaccinated people were "always confronting".
"Behind every one of those numbers is a person, but in addition to that, what you're seeing ... (is) the contributing factor of underlying health conditions are also there," he said.
"What is very clear is that if you do not have any underlying health conditions and you are vaccinated, the risk of having any severe symptoms or any severe impacts from COVID are incredibly low.
"We have to live in the world as it is not and not as we want it to be.
"Vaccination is crucial to keeping us safe."
Murrumbidgee Local Health District recorded 839 cases on Saturday and 571 cases on Sunday.
IN OTHER NEWS:
MLHD also attributed cases to specific local government ares for the first time since the beginning of December; there were 90 cases in Albury on Sunday and 167 on Saturday.
On Saturday, Wodonga recorded 70 new cases of COVID, Indigo 22, Wangaratta 38, Alpine seven and Towong seven.
On Sunday, Wodonga recorded 132, 28 in Indigo, 97 in Wangaratta.