Victorian health authorities have confirmed 18 newly-reported COVID-19 deaths actually occurred in January.
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The state reported 26 new deaths on Friday, with the health department later clarifying most happened two months ago.
Four deaths occurred in the past two days, three in the past week and one happened in mid-February.
Another 6545 new infections were recorded on Friday, with active cases rising to 42,046.
Of the new cases, 4312 were self-reported from rapid antigen tests and 2233 from PCR lab tests.
There are 245 patients in hospital, 28 of whom are in intensive care and seven on ventilation.
Some 60 per cent of Victorian adults have received three vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Martin Foley, COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar and Department of Health Secretary Euan Wallace faced questioning by Victorian parliament's pandemic committee on Friday.
They were asked about how many people were awaiting elective surgery in the state, after non-urgent procedures were paused for several weeks earlier this year.
Mr Foley said the most recent data, which was released in December, showed 80,000 Victorians were on the elective surgery waiting list.
He told the Pandemic Declaration Accountability and Oversight Committee new figures would be released at the end of this quarter.
Mr Wallace said it could take years for the wait list to return to normal levels, but said the health department intended to reduce it "as fast as possible".
State opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said the government's inability to reveal up-to-date wait list numbers showed a lack of transparency.
Australian Associated Press
