End of Melbourne lockdown now 'depends on luck' as schools emerge as outbreak ...

Three Victorian schools and one university have become the state's latest outbreak hotspots with hundreds of staff and thousands of students potentially exposed to the virus.   

Four teachers at Bacchus Marsh Grammar school, located 55km northwest of Melbourne, are infected with the virus. 

Trinity College in Kew has seen three teachers test positive to the highly-infectious Delta variant, as has a family member of a senior student at Ballarat's Clarendon College.

A professor at Geelong's Deakin University has also tested positive, with potentially thousands of staff and students exposed across the four institutions.

A leading epidemiologist at the University of Melbourne said Victoria will need a lot of luck to see their lockdown end on Tuesday. 

'I am concerned by the pace of this outbreak – Delta moves fast,' Professor Nancy Baxter told the Herald Sun.   

'We would be very lucky to get out of lockdown on Tuesday… and Melbourne has not had much luck.' 

Victoria is now dealing with 26 cases of Covid-19 and 126 exposure sites in a blow to any hopes of residents getting an early release from the state's five-day lockdown. 

A state minister told the Herald Sun it would be 'ambitious' to think they would be out of their lockdown after the five-day period, saying they'd need 'everything to fall our way' for it to end Tuesday. 

Ballarat Clarendon College principal David Sheppard sent an email to staff and parents on Friday morning saying the family member of a senior school student had tested positive and that they were awaiting further advice from the government. 

'We will provide information to our community as required, and as directed as soon as it becomes available,' Mr Sheppard said in the email.

'It is our collective responsibility to follow the advice and guidance of health experts.

'This is obviously an unsettling time for us all but particularly the Clarendon family as they navigate the next few days.'    

The latest cases from Bacchus Marsh came from a staff development day that saw 315 personnel in attendance.

All four of the Covid-positive teachers are based at the Maddingley Middle/Senior School, with the campus designated as a Tier 1 site.

Principal Andrew Neal sent a letter to parents on Monday confirming the infected teachers had been in contact with their children. 

'Unfortunately, some of the recently infected staff have been in direct contact with students,' the letter obtained by the Herald Sun reads.

'The earlier advice that all students should stay at home and isolate still applies and we will update you with further advice as we are provided it,' he added.

'We currently have a significant number of staff tests back but given the size of the school we are still obviously waiting on a number from yesterday.' 

A staff member teaching at Deakin University in Geelong also tested positive, with the college's Vice Chancellor confirming they had temporarily closed several classrooms.

'Based on our understanding of the staff member's movements, Deakin has temporarily closed buildings IC, IB and JB for deep cleaning. The staff member was not involved in any teaching activity while on campus,' Professor Iain Martin said.

'We have identified a small number of close contacts on campus and have already advised those people to isolate and get tested. 

'However, if you were at the Waurn Ponds campus on Wednesday 14 July, anytime between 9am and 3pm, I urge you to watch and follow the advice of the Department of Health and Human Services.'  

There is a confirmed case in Cowes on Phillip Island, southeast of Melbourne, with the Phillip Island Ten Pin Bowling and Entertainment and San Remo Fisherman's Co-op are among the latest additions to Victoria's growing exposure list, as the virus spreads further to regional areas of the state.

The two venues have been listed as Tier 1 sites, with anyone in attendance on Friday morning being told to immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days regardless of the result. 

Earlier on Friday Dan Andrews took a swipe at his New South Wales counterpart after positive cases from Sydney brought the virus back to Melbourne. 

The Victorian Premier said he understood the frustration among Victorians as they began their first day of a five-day long lockdown to curb the spread of the 'Sydney incursion'. 

'I know and understand that this is not easy,' he said. 'No-one wants to be locked down. 

'But we had no choice and these additional cases overnight and particularly some of the context of these cases I think confirm for all Victorians that we had to make that tough call.' 

Mr Andrews claimed it was better to suffer through a short lockdown than a prolonged one - in a subtle dig against NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian who has been forced to extend restrictions across Greater Sydney until at least the end of July.

'We have done it before and we have done before with the Delta variants,' he said. 'We can do it again and we will do it again.' 

'We are all working as hard as we possibly can to make this as short a lockdown as possible, five days.

'That is certainly better than five weeks or five months.' 

On June 26, Ms Berejiklian introduced a two week lockdown in Greater Sydney after more than 80 cases were linked to an outbreak of the Delta variant of the virus.

The lockdown has since been extended with the virus running rampant in south-west Sydney and the state recording a staggeringly high number of cases each day - peaking at 112 on Monday.

Mr Andrews, on the other hand, plunged his state into lockdown despite Victoria recording just a handful of cases. 

On Friday, only ten cases were reported - but four of them were already announced on Thursday.  

There are now 24 cases linked to the outbreak with 1,500

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