Victoria records 397 new COVID-19 cases, three deaths

Victoria has recorded 397 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and three further deaths.

Thirty-seven of the new cases are linked to known outbreaks and 360 are under investigation.

The nation's death toll has surpassed 200 and the additional deaths bring Victoria's total number of deaths to 116.

Police monitoring for lockdown breaches in Melbourne.

The three new deaths in Victoria are a man in his 80s, a woman in her 80s, and a woman in her 90s, Premier Daniel Andrews said.

He said there are currently 49 "mystery cases" and admitted community transmission posed the biggest challenge to the state's fight against the virus.

"Forty-nine doesn't seem a very large number but I just say to all Victorians that 49 where you can't be certain how they got it, that can mean there are many more than 49 out there," he said.

"(There are people that could have) have very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, they can be at the height of their infectivity, and be infecting other people unbeknownst to them.

"That is the real challenge here. It is a silent enemy, it is a very cunning enemy as well."

Mr Andrews said there is "a lot of work going on" around an anticipated tightening of restrictions to flatten the curve.

"What we have at the moment are numbers that are too high of community transmission and that is a concern to us," he said.

"I'm trying to be as frank as I can be, I do not have announcements to make today but there is a lot of work going on because this is not easy.

"You need to think it through properly and that changes to the rules will deliver the desired outcomes and that is a circuit breaker to try and pull this up." He said today was "not the day" to make an announcement but indicated some of the options being canvassed included the closure of certain businesses or industries.

"It is not a tap you can just turn on or off and they are not decisions that would be taken lightly because there are significant costs," he said.

"Even minor changes have a significant cost. But the numbers are too high and there is a growing case for us to do more."

Appalling behaviour

Police Minister Lisa Neville says police are "still continuing to see appalling behaviour" when it comes to compliance with coronavirus restrictions.

"(I) want to say the overwhelming majority of Victorians every day I doing the right thing," she said.

But she said Victorians are "fed up".

"I know Victorians themselves are fed up with and we see that every day, people making comments about that stop I am fed up with it, Victoria Police are fed up with it," Ms Neville said.

"Can I be really clear, just in case there is any doubt at all, that there is absolutely no reason or need to drive from Melbourne to Wodonga to have a Big Mac. That is one of the fines that was issued yesterday.

"There is absolutely no reason or need to drive from Melbourne to Ballarat fresh air."

About 270 people fined for not wearing masks

Police Minister Lisa Neville says approximately 270 fines have been handed out for people not wearing masks.

Mask wearing in public is now mandatory for all Victorians, even those in regional areas.

Rick Nugent, Assistant Police Commisioner, said officers had been seeing mostly good compliance but also some "blatantly selfish" people.

"What we are seeing are too many individuals going about their lives as though this pandemic doesn't exist," he said.

"So those people are not travelling for reasons that they should be. We had someone go from Bentleigh to Sunbury to get some takeaway.

"No way ... there is no need."

Coronavirus: Further restrictions expected in Victoria

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