VICTORIA recorded 15 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths on Wednesday, taking the state’s death toll to 771.

The deaths included one male in his 70s, two females in their 80s, one male in his 90s and one female in her 100s.

All deaths were linked to aged care outbreaks.

There were 75 Victorians in hospital, eight in intensive care and six of those were on a ventilator on Wednesday.

A total of 2,609,485 test results had been received since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of 15,741 since Tuesday.

Premier, Daniel Andrews said it was “critically important” that Victorians continued to get tested.

“That is a strong number and I want thank everyone that went and got tested,” he said. 

“It is a powerful contribution.”

The 14-day rolling average dipped below 30 for metropolitan Melbourne yesterday, to 29.4.

There were 14 active cases in regional Victoria as the rolling average dropped to 1.1.

Mr Andrews said it was important to continue to see “stability” and a “reduction in numbers” across the state.

“It’s really important that all regional Victorians whilst they have different rules to follow, there are still rules and we want to remind people to continue to follow those rules,” he said.

“Today is a day where all Victorians can see this strategy is working.

“Because of your hard work and because of all the things you are doing and giving up, numbers are coming down.

“As they continue to fall, we will be able to find that COVID normal because once you get those numbers low, you can keep them low.”

Mr Andrews confirmed metropolitan residents who work in regional Victoria were allowed to travel to work, however they were still required to abide by the stage four restrictions they would in Melbourne.  

“The primary rule is that if you can work from home, you must work from home still remains in place,” he said.

“A person travelling from metropolitan Melbourne to regional Victoria to work must have a valid work permit.

“When a person from metropolitan Melbourne is in regional Victoria, the metropolitan Melbourne restrictions still apply to them, the rules follow them to their work.

“They can’t be going out to restaurant for dinner, they can’t be engaging in that activity.”