Victoria has had six new locally acquired Covid-19 cases as an extension of the state's "circuit breaker" lockdown is likely to be announced today.
The new infections takes the current outbreak to 60 cases.
Testing numbers continue to be high, with 51,033 in the 24 hours to midnight, as well as 20,585 vaccine doses.
State government and health officials reportedly discussed options into the night as they consider extending the seven-day lockdown, which is due to end tomorrow.
There are also growing calls to ease restrictions on regional areas.
Alarm bells are ringing after a newly identified Covid-19 case travelled between Victoria and NSW and evidence of "stranger-to-stranger" transmission mounted.
The number of exposure sites connected to the outbreak has reached 351 and includes country petrol stations in Wallan, Euroa and Glenrowan.
Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said there were four to five instances in the state's latest 54-case outbreak of people contracting the virus from "fleeting contact".
"They do not know each other's names and that is very different from what we have seen before," Weimar told reporters yesterday.
Health Minister Martin Foley said the Indian variant's heightened infectiousness and faster spread would factor into the decision to extend the lockdown.
"That is one of a range of pieces of evidence the chief health officer [Brett Sutton] and his team will weigh carefully," he said.
In a statement today, Sutton described the new variant as "an absolute beast".
"I've described this virus as an absolute beast because it has moved faster than any other strain we've dealt with, and we're seeing transmission in settings and circumstances we've never seen before," he said.
"This means we're to having to re-examine exposure sites - more than 300 of them-with this more contagious strain in mind. We can't underestimate this challenge.
"We are trying to do something nobody has had to do before — drive down the most challenging variant we've ever seen — and we're doing it with a largely unvaccinated population.
"If this strain is allowed to circulate unchecked as it has in other countries, many people will die."
Professor Sutton's public health team was strongly leaning toward recommending a lockdown extension, according to media reports, as senior government ministers met to receive a high-level briefing last night.
A state government spokeswoman declined to confirm details to AAP but a final call could be ticked off as early as this morning.
The concerning spread of the Indian variant has also prompted authorities to encourage visitors to 14 shopping hubs across Melbourne over the past two weeks to come forward for testing.
"We are now keen to start to drain the swamp to see what else is out there," Weimar said.
"Is there anybody else out there we haven't caught? Is there anybody else not caught by exposure sites?"
There are now 4800 primary close contacts, with 75 per cent of those returning a negative test.
It comes as Victorian aged care and disability workers will be able to jump the queue at 10 vaccination centres across the state from Wednesday as part of a five-day jab blitz.
Express lanes exclusively for aged care and disability staff will open from 9am to 4pm (local time), with workers needing to show proof of employment.
It follows the three-case Arcare Maidstone outbreak, now genomically linked to a South Australian hotel quarantine leak, exposing gaps in private aged care vaccinations among workers and residents.
In Senate estimates yesterday, it emerged that less than 10 per cent of nursing home staff across Australia have been vaccinated through federal government visits.
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