NEW CASES: 2179

ACTIVE CASES: 21,324

DEATHS: six

Victoria's daily COVID infections have dropped slightly, but continue to hover above 2000 new cases.

There were 2179 cases recorded in the 24 hours to midnight on Thursday, the second-biggest day on record.

There were also six deaths recorded, taking the current outbreak to 131.

There was 73,492 cases returned.

There was 2297 cases yesterday, 1571 on Wednesday, 1466 cases on Tuesday, 1612 on Monday, 1890 new cases on Sunday and 1965 cases on Saturday.

IN OTHER NEWS:

A COVID-19 vaccine mandate has kicked in for Victorian authorised workers, with all now needing their first dose or a scheduled booking to keep working on site.

The Victorian government gave the state's 1.25 million authorised workers a fortnight to get at least their first coronavirus vaccination by Friday - or show proof of a booking within the next week - otherwise they would be stood down.

They must then be fully vaccinated by November 26, and there are limited medical exemptions.

When the mandate was announced, most authorised workers in the state had already been partially vaccinated but it was estimated hundreds of thousands had not.

The public health order covers retail workers, personal trainers, journalists, faith leaders, judges, police, lawyers, actors, professional sportspeople and many other professions.

Tim Piper, the Victorian head of the peak employer association Ai Group, said "V-Day" was creating huge issues and some business were contacting it to report workers were refusing to get vaccinated.

"The workers have often been in their jobs many years, they may be key people in the business," Mr Piper said.

"Skilled and experienced employees are at a premium and some businesses are at their wits' end trying to decide what to do."

He reminded employers they must send the staff home if they don't comply with the order, and employees are not entitled to be paid unless they agree to take any accrued annual leave or long service leave.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he made no apology for his government's COVID-19 vaccine mandates across specific industries and the entire authorised workforce.

"These mandates, these requirements, push people to do what needs to be done," he told reporters.

A motion to ban unvaccinated MPs and staff from entering state parliament, an Australian-first and in line with the authorised worker mandate, passed both houses on Thursday.

It comes as Victoria forges ahead with its plans to ease restrictions despite reporting a record 2297 daily COVID-19 cases.

Mr Andrews said the state government wouldn't go back on its roadmap, which will end Melbourne's lockdown once the 70 per cent of those aged over 16 are fully vaccinated.

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