Australia overall seems to be doing great dealing with Covid-19, recording no local cases for days.

Victoria hold the biggest streak yet again, reaching 18 days without community transmission while Queensland and NSW managed 12 and six consecutive days without a local case.

In west Sydney, traces of Covid-19 have been detected in sewage but the situation is under control.

Positive test results for traces of COVID-19 have also been discovered at three Queensland sewage treatment sites at Townsville, Nambour and Rockhampton. The results aren’t cause for alarm, but the three communities in particular should be on alert.

Meanwhile, health authorities raise concerns about three positive cases of coronavirus in hotel quarantine from the Australian Open, all carriers of the highly-transmissible UK variant of the virus.

The strains were identified after genomic testing and extra precautions are being taken.

Ahryal (r), who begins grade 2 and Dawson, prep, prepare for their return to school, in Brisbane, Thursday, January 21, 2021. Border closures and lockdowns in the weeks before children head back to school are a reminder of uncertainty continuing along with the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: AAP/Danny Casey

At the same time the Victorian government promised to implore more hotels in order to house people that require quarantine following Shadow Health Minister Chris Bowen’s comments that “Prime Minister Scott Morrison has deserted Australians trapped overseas”.

Even though Australia’s coronavirus management is being praised by the rest of the world, Dr Zena Burgess, CEO of the Australian Psychological Society, is calling a mental health emergency in the country.

Dr Burgess warned that the number of children presenting with mental health or emotional problems is “shocking”.

“It is an emergency, the mental health legacy on children of COVID-19 [in Australia] is going to last for many years if we don’t address it,” she said.