The exclusion of the two false cases revises the total of Melbourne’s current outbreak down to 61.

But on Friday morning the Health Department issued a statement, saying there are still eight cases of transmission through passing contact.

It added there are still five exposure sites where the virus has spread through people who do not know each other.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said despite the two false positives, there were no immediate plans to shorten Melbourne’s lockdown.

“Our answer on that hasn’t changed and nor should it,” Merlino said.

Victoria has recorded four new locally acquired virus cases, taking the state’s outbreak to 65.

Just hours before the city entered its second week of the shutdown on Friday, Victoria’s Department of Health dropped a bombshell prompting fresh scrutiny of the seven-day extension.

Health authorities initially thought a woman caught COVID-19 at a Metricon display home at Mickleham, and believed a man similarly picked up the virus at Brighton Beach Hotel.

That was not the case, with an expert panel review confirming neither was even infected.

The COVID-free pair and their primary close contacts will be released from isolation and any associated exposure sites reclassified, including all in Anglesea along the Great Ocean Road.

The Metricon display home and Brighton Beach Hotel remain linked to other confirmed cases and will remain exposure sites.

Victoria’s health department explained authorities always enact immediate health measures for every positive case.

“Those cases can be re-evaluated, their test results can be re-run and further investigations and reviews conducted to confirm their true nature,” it said.

On Friday morning, the health department again stressed it still had concerns about how the virus is spreading in the current outbreak.

“Two fewer positive cases is welcome news, but we still have a further eight instances of transmission through passing contact between people who have not directly interacted with each other,” it said.

“That’s the one in 10 we remain concerned about.

“There are still five exposure sites where this has spread into the community through people who don’t know each other … and we need to be sure we have all those cases fully contained.

“We know this variant is 50 per cent more infectious that what we were dealing with last year.”

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has repeatedly described the variant as a “beast”.

“If we let this thing run its course, it will explode,” said Acting Premier James Merlino when announcing the lockdown extension on Wednesday.

“We’ve got to run this to ground because if we don’t, people will die.”

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has been critical of the “apocalyptic” language used to describe the Indian variant, and rejoiced in news of the “false positives”.

“If the basis for the lockdown extension turned out to be false, it should end. Time for the Labor Government to be upfront with Victorians,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a “temporary COVID disaster payment” to help stood-down Victorian workers aged over 17 through the lockdown.

The federal government also handed Victoria a memorandum of understanding to build its long-proposed stand-alone quarantine site, with Avalon appearing to be Canberra’s preferred location.