Six in a row: No new coronavirus cases or deaths in Victoria
Victoria has recorded its sixth consecutive day with no new coronavirus infections.
The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday morning announced the result in a tweet that also revealed the state's daily 14-day average had fallen to 1.4 and there were now two mystery cases.
Premier Daniel Andrews has said he will announce a futher easing of restrictions on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Mr Andrews declined to signal which coronavirus restrictions would be eased on Sunday or whether the government was looking at more that had already been foreshadowed.
"I can’t predict what we'll announce other than what we've already outlined," he said.
He said Victoria was "well on track" for planned easings, such as removing the "ring of steel" separating Melbourne and regional Victoria and the 25-kilometre restriction on movement, as well as a "COVID-normal" Christmas.
Vaccine developments
The news came as Health Minister Greg Hunt predicted the first COVID-19 vaccine doses could be administered in March or the first quarter of 2021.
Mr Hunt said there were two new vaccine agreements with Novavax and Pfizer to secure 50 million vaccine doses adding to those which could be produced by CSL in Australia.
Mr Hunt said healthcare workers and the elderly would be first in line for any vaccine once it is approved.
"We've already achieved incredible results when we look around the world, today will be either the second highest or the highest day of tragedy in terms of loss over the course of the entire virus," Mr Hunt told The Today Show on Thursday.
More to come