Hundreds more coronavirus cases in Victoria, 11 new deaths

Victoria has recorded 450 new cases of COVID-19 and another 11 deaths.

The state's death toll has risen to 181 after one woman in her 50s, two men in their 70s, three men and women in their 80s and two women in their 90s died of coronavirus overnight.

Among the deaths, seven were connected to aged care.

There are 607 Victorians in hospital, including 41 patients in intensive care.

Victoria's COVID-19 tally has surged to 13,867 cases.

An additional 66 mystery cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Victoria overnight.

The infections take the state's total to 2454 cases with an unknown source of transmission.

"That number is lower than it has been in recent days," Premier Daniel Andrews said.

"But there is still far too many of those mystery community transmission cases that we can't find the source or the circumstance behind that infection."

There are 911 active cases of COVID-19 among healthcare workers.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said nurses had a larger representation than doctors in these active cases, due to the "closeness of interaction" with patients.

"Certainly, it is a very concerning number, it is a very big number," he said.

Professor Sutton says Victoria is seeing "stabilisation" in its COVID-19 figures.

"We've seen very significant ups and downs with numbers," Prof Sutton said.

"But the trend overall is that we're kind of sitting at 400-500 cases a day. That is relatively flat over the last week."

Prof Sutton said health experts were expecting numbers to fall over the coming weeks due to stage four restrictions being in place.

"We are now looking to see the effects of various interventions, obviously masks may show in the numbers in days to come, and obviously the stage four restrictions will show after that."

More than 100 not home when doorknocked by ADF

ADF personnel conducted 1150 doorknocks of people in COVID-19 quarantine yesterday. Of those visits, about 150 people were not home.

"They have been referred to Victoria Police," Mr Andrews said.

There were 60 teams including 120 defence personnel doorknocking across the state yesterday.

"That's the biggest single-day effort since the program began and that number will only increase as we move beyond simply doorknocking," the premier added.

Mr Andrews said the state would move to doorknocking all close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases.

"That is all about making sure people are doing the right thing."

Victoria's latest coronavirus outbreaks

Active aged care outbreaks with the highest cumulative case numbers:

•             172 cases have been linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping

•             161 cases have been linked to St Basil's Homes for the Aged in Fawkner

•             144 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer

•             119 cases have been linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth

•             94 cases have been linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg

•             84 cases have been linked to Arcare Aged Care Facility in Craigieburn

•             80 cases have been linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee

•             74 cases have been linked to Aurrum Aged Care in Plenty

•             73 cases have been linked to Glendale Aged Care Facility in Werribee

•             70 cases have been linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North

Cases linked to key outbreaks:

•             196 cases have been linked to Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown

•             164 cases have been linked to Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham

•             121 cases have been linked to JBS Brooklyn

•             90 cases have been linked to Melbourne Health Royal Park Campus

•             83 cases have been linked to Australian Lamb Company in Colac

•             60 cases have been linked to Woolworths Distribution Centre Mulgrave

•             44 cases have been linked to the Linfox warehouse in Truganina

•             44 cases have been linked to Nino Early Learning Centre in Bundoora

•             37 cases have been linked to Catholic Regional College in Sydenham

•             36 cases have been linked to Golden Farms Poultry in Breakwater

•             31 cases have been linked to Respite Services Australia in Moonee Ponds

The department is also looking into four cases in staff linked to a hospital ward at Eastern Health, two cases linked to Polytrade Recycling in Dandenong South and one case linked to the Europa Melbourne Hostel.

Graphics by: Tara Blancato and Tim Hamer

Major changes to ATAR scores

All Year 12 students in Victoria will be given an ATAR score which considers the "adverse impacts" of COVID-19.

"Every single VCE student will be individually assessed and any adverse impacts from COVID-19 will be reflected in their ATAR ranking," Education Minister James Merlino said.

"This is quite an extraordinary change. So every single student will be individually assessed.

"We'll look at things such as school closures, we'll look at things such as long absences. We'll look at things, for example, such as significant increase in family responsibilities as a result of COVID-19 and we'll of course consider the mental health and wellbeing of students during this period."

Mr Merlino said there was "no reason" to push back VCE exams any further due to COVID-19.

"So I think the last VCE exam is on the 2nd of December. That will enable students to receive their VCE scores and their ATAR before the end of the year.

"What we have announced today is to give confidence to every VCE student and their parents that when they go into their VCE exams, they can go in there with confidence that they'll be in at no disadvantage."

Hotel quarantine suspended

Victoria's hotel quarantine program has been suspended and remains unlikely to return anytime soon.

"Those Victorians or others who might have flown home through Victoria, and there's more than 20,000 of these people that were part of our hotel quarantine program, that's not running anymore," Mr Andrews said.

The premier would not budge when asked about this role in the running of hotel quarantine.

"I'm not going to grade my own paper or mark my own exam. That's a matter for Judge Coate."

Professor Sutton has admitted the first time he heard of misconduct in hotel quarantine was in the news.

"We were aware of the transmission that occurred, but in terms of other rumours and reporting around deficiencies - the first I heard was when I read it in the newspapers," he said.

"When the genomics report came through, is when I was aware that a significant proportion of our current cases was in hotel quarantine."

Professor Sutton back on deck after 'retirement'

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton re-joined the premier for today's press conference, off the back of false reports he had quit his post on Victoria's deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rumours circulated on Twitter earlier this week Professor Sutton had resigned from his position, but today he told reporters he had "absolutely no idea" where they came from.

"It was a complete surprise to me," he said.

He was also welcomed back after his "retirement".

"Yes, it was a good retirement," Professor Sutton quipped.

"Short-lived."

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