Victoria does not want to change the border bubble arrangements despite tightening restrictions for returning Victoria, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said.

The two-week pause on red-zone permits will not affect border bubble travel Mr Andrews confirmed.

"The border bubble is as it was," he said.

"I don't want to have to change that unless I have good reason to, unless, for instance, there is evidence of cases from Sydney coming into that bubble. Then we would have to make some changes.

"That is not the situation at the moment so that remains unchanged."

Mr Andrews said Victoria Police leaders remain very pleased with how things are unfolding on the border under the 'soft' technology-driven border approach.

In other news

He said the current approach was serving Victoria well but if Victoria Police advice changed and they wanted to do something differently, the government would support them.

Mr Andrews said Victoria doesn't want to get this outbreak under control only to see another outbreak flare up because of someone returning from a red zone.

"It's very much dependent on virus numbers in Sydney, the measures they may put in place," Mr Andrew said on when the permit pause might lift.

"... we had a ring of steel around Melbourne last year and it didn't just protect country Victoria, it protected the whole country.

"I've had to announce these red zone permit changes today and I don't get any joy from doing that, saying to people who want to get home for the best of reasons 'No, you can't.'

"But they're not locked in Sydney, so they must be locked out of Victoria."

11.25am

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has paused the red zone permit scheme for two weeks, meaning Victorians in NSW will not be able to return home.

The only people allowed to cross the border from NSW into Victoria will be border bubble residents, people on compassionate permits and authorised workers.

"Things are too unstable, too uncertain and quite frankly out of control, from a virus point of view, in Sydney and we need to protect Victoria," he said.

Mr Andrews said Victorians in NSW were warned weeks ago to return to Victoria and the state cannot risk another outbreak due to an incursion from NSW.

He said the government was doing everything they could to avoid lockdown going for months.

"Victorians have got this," he said.

The border bubble is unaffected by the announcement.

11.20am

Victorians will remain in lockdown for at least seven more days until 11.59pm on July 27.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said there were at total of 85 active cases in the state and 18,000 close contacts.

There were 13 cases recorded in Victoria in the 24-hours to midnight, four of which were revealed yesterday.

Of the new cases, 12 are linked to known clusters and the course of one is currently unknown.

Nine of the 13 cases were isolating throughout their infectious period.

Mr Andrews thanked Victorians for their effort over the past four days, but said they 'need more time'.

"We can't run the risk there are cases out there we don't know about, there are trains of transmission we don't yet know about....," he said.

"We need to avoid what's going on in Sydney at the moment and we are determined to do that."

Watch Mr Andrews speak below:

NSW recorded 78 locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm Monday - 27 of which were in the community while infectious.

This morning, South Australian Premier Steven Marshall announced the state would be locked down for five-days in response to growing COVID cases.

So far five cases have been identified in South Australia.

LIVE: Gladys Berejiklian provides NSW COVID case update

Yesterday, Mr Andrews revealed the lockdown would not be ending as planned at midnight today, and foreshadowed tighter border controls.

He said the state had to 'defend' itself from the outbreak in NSW.

"Just in terms of the border, I'm not here today to make announcements but we are actively looking at what more we can do," Mr Andrews said on Monday.

"It's a pretty hard border now, police are using technology, drones, choppers they're doing random stops, they're doing all sorts of things, and overall compliance with the permit system has been very, very high.

"But I certainly can't rule out further changes and further limiting of movement from NSW to Victoria."

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