Government of Timor-Leste

The President of the Republic, Francisco Guterres Lú Olo, after the Government’s request, decreed today, January 27^th, 2021, the renewal of the state of emergency, for another 30 days, between February 2^nd, 2020, 00:00 a.m., and March 3^rd, 2020, 11:59 p.m.

The Government decided, at the Council of Ministers meeting, on January 20^th, 2021, to propose the State of Emergency’s renewal, for another thirty days, to the President of the Republic. After the State Council and Defence and Security Superior Council positive opinions, the National Parliament authorized, today, in Plenary, the President of the Republic to declare the state of emergency’s renewal for the tenth time, since the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, January 29^th, at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers’, the measures to  implement the Declaration of the State of Emergency’s will be approved.

The Prime-Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, in the debate on the request for authorization for the state of emergency renewal’s declaration for the tenth time, stated that “the Government sought to base its decisions on the measures to implement the declaration of the state of emergency according to criteria of necessity, proportionality and precaution, aware of the responsibility that has to protect the life and health of all Timorense and foreigners who are in Timor-Leste and to guarantee the existence of economic activity that responds, as far as possible, given the international health and economic situation, as well as the needs of subsistence of families and companies in our country”.

The Head of Government reaffirmed that “the Government is and will remain absolutely committed to prevent the emergence of a COVID-19 outbreak in our country, the consequences of which would be absolutely devastating on the human and economic level” and thanked “all professionals, employees and volunteers, especially, among others, the health, civil protection, defence, security and basic trade agents, for their commitment, dedication and support, which they have always shown to help us to collectively overcome this difficult moment faced by all humanity”.

In Timor-Leste, since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been a total of 68  confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, 50 of which have already recovered and there are currently 18 active cases.

The number of infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the world has already exceeded 100 million people and more than 2 million people died with Covid-19.