COVID-19 cases found in Shepparton, one exposure site listed

Stellar Coffee Shepparton has been listed as a Tier 2 exposure site on September 20 from 11.00am to 11.40am after a positive case attended the venue. 

More exposure sites are expected to be added to the Victorian government's list of exposure sites later tonight and through the weekend. 

Anyone who was at the site in the listed times needs to get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result. 

UPDATE, 12.30pm:

Goulburn Valley Health chief executive says two cases were found overnight relating to people currently in Shepparton - one person with a Shepparton address and another with an address in the Campaspe Shire.

He says that could lead to a different in the reporting of active cases between today and in current days.

Mr Sharp said exposure site information was currently being gathered and would be shared as soon as possible, adding it was understood the positive cases were infectious in the community from September 15.

EARLIER: 

One new positive case of COVID-19 has been found in Shepparton.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton told media the case was believed to be acquired from a transport driver.

Three new cases were also found in the Campaspe Shire.

Mr Sutton said it was part of a "slow but steady" increase in cases in regional Victoria, 27 new cases found in regional Victoria yesterday.

733 new cases were found in Victoria yesterday, with one death, a Moreland woman in her 80s.

The figure is slightly down on yesterday's record 766 cases, taking the number of total active cases to 7160.

Today's breakdown of regional cases is as follows;

Asked if there was a chance the entirety of regional Victoria could return to lockdown, Mr Sutton said vaccination was the key to prevent that being necessary.

"Every day that passes with more and more regional Victorians getting vaccinated is again, a greater defence against the need for a lockdown," he said.

"There will be LGAs that get to that high vaccination coverage, where if one or two cases occur, we'll have greater and greater confidence they can be managed through the contact tracing process. Because they do have very high vaccination coverage.

"So those individuals, they may have four or five contacts in their households, they may have gone to some exposure sites, but the great majority of people who have been close contacts are vaccinated and have that protection.

"We'll be more and more confident that a few cases in some regional areas will not necessarily require a lockdown. I think that's - that's good news across the board."

84 per cent of yesterday's cases were people aged less than 50 years old

"This continues to be an overwhelming outbreak amongst both the unvaccinated and disproportionately younger Victorians," health minister Martin Foley said.

297 people are currently in hospital with COVID; 66 of those are in intensive care and 46 are on ventilators.

Of those hospitalised, 77 per cent were not vaccinated, 19 per cent were partially vaccinated and four per cent were full vaccinated.

Mr Foley had a stern message for the "ill-advised" and "abhorrent" protest occurring in Melbourne this week.

"We know that protesting against COVID-19 does not work. Vaccinations work against COVID-19.

"To pretend that something doesn't exist and then for that very thing to put you in hospital is a message loud and clear, that protesting against COVID-19 is futile. Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the only thing that we would encourage people to do, as opposed to protesting.

"Of course we're worried (cases will rise as a result). That's what super spreader events make us very concerned about.

"More cases prolong the public health measures. Vaccines and vaccinations shorten it. Make the right choice. Get vaccinated."

More to come.