Every person who attends COVID-19 testing sites over the next four to six weeks for a COVID-19 test will be given a box of 10 masks.
“We would encourage you to wear those, when you are inside, when you are on public transport,” Andrews said.
He said winter had been “one of the most difficult periods ever” for the state’s health system, and that mask wearing would help reduce pressure on the system.
Andrews said offering free masks was “the common sense thing to do” at this point.
“We’ve got the stock,” he said.
The government is “strongly recommending” masks be worn indoors in Victoria.
Victorians have been advised that while surgical masks provide protection against airborne viruses such as COVID-19 and influenza, N95 masks offer much better protection because they fit more closely to the wearer’s face.
Andrews confirmed that Victoria is coming towards the end of the current wave of COVID-19.
There are 40,001 known active cases in the state at the moment, including 673 in hospital and 32 in intensive care.
A further 44 deaths in people with the virus have been recorded today.
The subvariants and mutations of COVID-19