Victoria’s remaining border restrictions with NSW set to be lifted

However, Mr Andrews said mask rules would remain because they provide an “extra layer of protection insurance against a super-spreader event”.

He also said that in the middle of February, there would be a rise in the number of overseas arrivals allowed back in Victoria. The cap will essentially double to 2100.

Victoria officially recorded three new coronavirus cases in hotel quarantine on Thursday, after more than 14,494 tests were processed across the state in the 24 hours to midnight.

There are now a total of 27 active cases, all in hotel quarantine.

The last active case of locally acquired COVID-19, acquired during the Black Rock outbreak, has dropped off health authorities’ list of current infections on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s two new cases in hotel quarantine were not linked to the Australian Open. COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria said one Australian Open case was reclassified due to evidence of a previous infection, meaning there has been a total of eight positive cases related to the Open cohort.

The reclassified case was a man in his 40s who is a non-player and has no impact on close contacts from the three flights which have had positive cases.

Meanwhile, the first lot of people who travelled to Victoria from overseas for the Open are set to be released from hotel quarantine on Thursday evening.

Mr Andrews said they would be “treated no different to anyone else going through the hotel quarantine system” and would be released in the same way.

Some will go to stay at private homes, others to private hotels, he said. He also said some hotels would convert from hotel quarantine premises to “Australian Open tennis hotels”.

“Of course we thank everybody, regardless of what they do for a living,” he said. “Being in quarantine is not easy but it’s critically important to keep Victoria safe”.

The run of no locally-acquired coronavirus cases in Victoria comes as Australia’s vaccine rollout plan is under a cloud after the European Union slapped export controls on COVID-19 vaccines produced within their territory.

The controls, which effectively mean vaccine producers must ask for permission before shipping vials outside the region, will at the very least slow the distribution process for countries outside Europe.

A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt did not answer specific questions about what the European decision means for Australia’s vaccine rollout. Australia has ordered 10 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which is being manufactured in Belgium. The first shipment of at least 80,000 doses is due by the end of February.

The country is also expecting 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be imported into Australia from Europe as local manufacturing of that vaccine ramps up. On Monday, that number was revised down from the previously expected 3.8 million due to global supply issues.

Mr Hunt remains confident Pfizer will still deliver the first lot of 80,000 vaccines at the end of February, a spokesman said.

With Rachel Clun, Bevan Shields