Vic premier says tougher lockdown likely

Tougher coronavirus restrictions remain likely for Victoria despite a slowing of the infection spread.

As the state's death toll climbed by one to seven overnight, Premier Daniel Andrew on Friday announced the formation of an eight-person crisis cabinet.

It will operate until at least September 30 and be made up of state government ministers.

While the spread of the disease in Victoria appears to be slowing, Mr Andrews and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton have again stressed there is no room for complacency.

Indeed, the premier expects he will eventually announce a move up from this week's stage three lockdown restrictions.

But there are no details yet on what stage four might involve.

"I think there will be a stage four. When I'm in a position and when I need to make those announcements I will," he said.

Mr Andrews also was unapologetic about the elements of the stage three restrictions.

"No recreational fishing trip, no trip to the golf course is worth someone's life," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Professor Sutton confirmed a man in his 80s died while in intensive care overnight, bringing the toll to seven.

"We have another seven who are currently in intensive care at the moment so it is a serious situation," he told Network Seven.

Another 49 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the state's total to 1085.

Prof Sutton said there had been some flattening of the curve - the rate at which people are becoming infected - but more needed to be done.

"We have gone from doubling our numbers every three or four days to now doubling every seven days so that's an improvement," he said.

"But we don't want to be doubling every seven days ongoing. We need to keep at it and continue to flatten that curve."

Prof Sutton said the number of new cases was expected to reduce in line with the drop in international travellers but community transmission was the concern.

At least 62 cases were acquired through community transmission, up from fewer than 30 only a few days ago.

"It's the physical distancing that we're putting in place which is going to make a difference in that regard," Prof Sutton told Nine's Today Show.

"These people aren't easy to identify. They could be on the streets now and many of them might have mild symptoms and so, therefore, not think that they've got coronavirus when in fact they do."

Three of the seven COVID-19 deaths in Victoria had been patients at The Alfred Hospital, the facility confirmed on Thursday.

The Crisis Council of Cabinet is the premier plus ministers James Merlino, Tim Pallas, Jacinta Allan, Jenny Mikakos, Jill Hennessy, Martin Pakula and Lisa Neville.

"These are not ordinary times - business as usual simply won't get the job done," Mr Andrews said.

This is Victoria's first weekend since harsher social distancing laws were implemented and come with a ban on all but the most basic outdoor activities.

All recreational activities beyond basic exercise are not allowed during the pandemic, with fishing, hunting, boating, camping and golf among the banned activities.

People can be fined $1652 if they leave home for any reason that is not essential, while businesses face a $9913 fine if caught doing the wrong thing.

Since 21 March, police have conducted almost 12,000 spot checks and issued 39 fines.