Melbourne

Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion, joined Parker at this afternoon’s press conference ahead of the Wednesday night show at the Margaret Court Arena and, in between occasional profanities in a broadcast streamed live in New Zealand and Australia, he spoke about his Kiwi mate’s impressive preparation for his latest challenge.

The self-styled Gypsy King has travelled downunder to support Parker – a long-time ally away from the ring and occasional training partner in his home town of Morecambe in England.

Sydney has proudly held the title for more than 100 years.

But with populations rapidly growing on Melbourne's fringe, the city limits have been expanded to include the area of Melton.

The latest government figures, from June 2021, put Melbourne's population at 4,875,400 - 18,700 more than Sydney.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines a city's "significant urban area", by including all connecting suburbs with more than 10,000 people.

The refugees came from the Australian offshore detention camps in Manus (Papua New Guinea) and Nauru, and were brought to the mainland for medical treatment.

They are being held at the Park Hotel in Carlton, where 22 of them now have Covid-19, with one hospitalised.

The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul claimed the proper protocols of separating the infected from those without the virus had been ignored by Australian officials.

He said the Australian government has created a Covid incubator in the Park Hotel.

More than five million people have spent more than 260 days under restrictions, with Melbourne dubbed the "world's most locked down city".

This most recent lockdown, which has been in place since August, came to an end after 70% of the city's population received both vaccine doses.

Images from the city's reopening show people celebrating in bars.

Some people on social media reported hearing fireworks and cheering in celebration.

Authorities are still discussing how many days it will last. It is not yet known if the lockdown will also apply to regional Victoria.

It will be the fifth lockdown since the pandemic began and the third this year.

Mask rules were already tightened overnight to respond to the outbreak, which is now linked to 16 cases.

Two of those were confirmed this morning, adding to the 10 included in yesterday's numbers.

The new cases are understood to have acquired the virus at an AFL game at the MCG on Saturday which was also attended by a COVID-positive case.

Victoria has recorded five new locally acquired cases of coronavirus as the state enters its second day of a snap lockdown.

The five new cases were detected from 56,624 test results processed on Friday, an apparent record for the state.

The outbreak linked to Melbourne's northern suburbs had grown to 30 cases yesterday. Further information about whether the five new cases are linked to the cluster is expected later today.

There are now 45 active cases of COVID-19 in the state, which includes another two recorded in hotel quarantine.

The lockdown will begin at midnight on Thursday (14:00 GMT).

Authorities have so far found 26 cases, and identified 150 sites where people may have been exposed to the virus.

There is growing anxiety over the outbreak which reminds many locals of a devastating second wave that swept the state last year.

Victoria's acting Premier James Merlino said the outbreak involved a highly contagious strain of the virus, the B.1.617 variant. A returned traveller was infected with the strain, which Mr Merlino said was spreading "faster than we have ever recorded".

The Victorian Department of Health tweeted on Tuesday evening that one of the nine positive cases attended the match and was seated in the Great Southern Stand of the ground.

The match was attended by just 23,415 AFL fans despite the AFL allowing the MCG to be up to 85 percent full of its maximum capacity of 100,024 fans.

The news came after restrictions were tightened across Greater Melbourne on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to find the missing link in a fresh outbreak, prompting New Zealand to pause a travel bubble with the state of Victoria.

A man aged in his 60s returned a positive result this morning, and has been added to the four cases reported yesterday.

Acting Premier James Merlino said the man had symptoms prior to the first identified case, suggesting he could be the possible source case for the outbreak.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said testing had determined the new cases were the "so-called Indian variant".

"It is as infectious as any other variant that has been reported historically, so it is by no means want to be complacent about," he said.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who is warming up for the Australian Open, was at her dominant best after a slow start in which she saved four break points in the opening game of the contest at Margaret Court Arena.

Former world number one Williams has not played since withdrawing from last year's French Open second round in September with an Achilles injury, but made quick work of Gavrilova, striking 27 winners including 16 in the opening set.