All Victorian students will return to the classroom by 26 October, the state government has announced, after health authorities recorded just nine new cases of coronavirus and no deaths.
Subject to health advice, Year 7 students will return to face-to-face learning alongside all primary school and senior school students on 12 October.
Students in years 8 to 10 will return from 26 October.
"Today is a terrific day because today we can announce certainty for all students, for all staff and for all parents and carers about a return to face-to-face teaching," Education Minister James Merlino told reporters on Monday.
Mr Merlino said there would be strategies in place to keep students safe, including compulsory masks for secondary school students and staggered pick-up and drop-off times.
"There will be a very strong message to parents - this is pick-up and drop-off. It's not dropping off the kids and having a chat at the school gate. As much as you would like to," he said.
Of the nine new cases confirmed on Monday, one is in the regional Victorian city of Shepparton.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the case was a result of a rapid result COVID-19 test, which may not be accurate.
"The result has a high CT (cycle threshold) value. A high CT value can sometimes mean a weak positive. So we're treating it as a positive. It may end up being a negative," Prof Sutton said.
"The case has been retested. There will be a formal test that goes to our reference laboratory in Melbourne.
"The close contacts have been tested. For those who have a result, they've been negative, but there are also some pending results for those close contacts."
The case lifts regional Victoria's 14-day average to 0.3 cases, while Melbourne's has dipped from 11.9 on Sunday to 11.6.
Some 24 cases have now been linked to the Butcher Club and Chadstone Shopping Centre cluster, including nine family members, seven staff and three customers. Five other cases are still under investigation.
"The Chadstone outbreak speaks to the complexity of the outbreaks that we deal with here in Victoria," Prof Sutton said.
There have been 13 mystery cases in Melbourne between 19 September and 2 October and none in regional Victoria.
Melbourne needs a 14-day average of fewer than five cases as well as less than five mystery cases for restrictions to further ease on 19 October.
"Getting there will happen through the control of those outbreaks and the continued trend down for those other sporadic cases and for the aged care cases in particular. But they are also moving slowly but surely in the right direction," Professor Sutton said.
The number of active cases among healthcare workers has also dropped to just 15 aged care staff, 13 nursing staff and one medical practitioner.
The state's death toll from the virus remains at 806 and the national figure at 894.
NSW has reported no new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 for the tenth consecutive day. The one new case reported was a returned overseas traveller in hotel quarantine.
Queensland said it had no new coronavirus cases on Monday.
Victorian police were out in force at beaches over the weekend, with warm weather leading to an influx of beachgoers and .
Seven News footage showed crowds gathering, many without masks, at the beach, while a journalist was approached by several people and kissed on the head as he spoke live to camera.
"We are so, so close. Let's not any of us do anything that might undermine the very positive numbers," Mr Andrews said on Sunday.
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