Presidency of the Council of Ministers

Eighth Constitutional Government

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Press Release

Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers on December 29, 2020

The Council of Ministers met at the Government Palace, in Dili and approved the Government Decree draft, presented by the acting Prime Minister, José Maria dos Reis, regarding the first amendment to Government Decree 18/2020, of December 3^rd, on the measures to implement the State of Emergency’s Declaration, enforced by the President of the Republic Decree 70/2020, of December 3^rd. Given the worsening of the health situation in the province of West Timor, Republic of Indonesia, which already has 1700 positive cases of COVID-19, the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, even more contagious than the original and to the increasing number of diagnosed cases in the national territory, it is necessary to adopt new measures to prevent the emergence of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. With this change, the rules of social distance are redefined, with all residents in Timor Leste individuals being obliged to:

• Keep a distance of, at least, one meter in relation to other individuals with whom they do not live in a common economy, when they walk on public roads or are in public or private enclosures, of public access and collective use;
• Do not crowd with more than ten people, unless they all belong to the same household;
• Do not organize or participate in events or celebrations involving agglomerations with more than ten people, unless they all belong to the same household;
• Use a face mask that covers the nose and mouth when they have to travel on public roads or access or remain in public or private premises of public access and collective use, and also  when using any public transport;
• Clean hands when they want to access to or remain in public or private premises of public access and collective use

It was also approved the Government Resolution draft, which impose a cordon sanitaire in the Special Administrative Region of Oé-cússi Ambeno (RAEOA), given the recent cases diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 in the region and in order to safeguard the public health of the RAEOA’ s population and to prevent the occurrence of community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the national territory. With this Government Resolution draft, the existing border posts in the RAEOA are closed, and travel by land and sea, between the mentioned region and other municipalities, are prohibited until January 2^nd, 2021, 11:59 p.m. END