Zero-Deaths, No New Cases of COVID-19 for 50 Days: How Has One Country Maintained Such a Good Record?
East Timor recently reported it has seen over 50 days of no new cases of COVID-19, not to mention, zero-death from the virus. The Asian credits partly to "water initiatives developed" to improve resilience to external shocks.
When the government reported the first-ever COVID-19 case in the country in March, according to a Forbes report, it said, it immediately closed its borders with Indonesia.
As of the middle of this month, the news outlet said, "the former Portuguese colony" has reported only "24 cases" out of its total 1.3-million population.
Nevertheless, despite the excellent record, Director of Public Infrastructure Organization for the regional government of the Timorese exclave of Oecusse-Ambeno, Candido Dos Reis Amaral, said, a lot of private sector businesses have lost revenue.
Such loss in income, Amaral also said, is a result of the "reduced number of outsiders" coming to the country also called, Timor Leste.
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Financial Assistance Provided
Also, according to this government official, Timor East "closely borders Indonesia by land." This is the reason, Amaral explained, the government sternly implemented all the procedures and protocols the World Health Organization recommends.
He happily shared that the public is well-ordered in this pandemic time in terms of following measures pertaining to physical and social distance. As the global health crisis progressed, implementations of other standards took place, as well.
In her letter to the Diplomat, Timor East's Legislative Reforms and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Fidelis Magalhaes, who is also the country's acting Economic Affairs Minister Coordinator, said that the national government has not just "authorized a $100-cash transfer to households that have below $500 income per month."
It has also funded an amount of $5 million in reliefs for sectors such as "fuel, agricultural machinery, technology," as well as contributions to keep the supply of food moving in east Timor.
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Credits to Governments and International Development Organizations
A non-government organization working with Amaral in his part of East Timor, reports indicated, acknowledges part of the nation's success in battling COVID-19 crisis to governments and international development organizations that help the government of East Timor increase flexibility to external shocks, "particularly climate change, in recent years."
The capacity-building-oriented NGO, World Neighbors, operates the ICRO or Increasing Community Resilience Program financed by USAID or the United States Agency for International Development.
USAID's focus is on the conservation and proper management of water in the Oecusse region of Timor Leste. One of the significant benefits of USAID'S many years' work has been an amplified acceptance in hand-washing.
Since the project began in 2015, hand-washing rates have rapidly risen through community-based education projects and the installation of "simple hand-washing devices," which, according to statistics by World Neighbors, is called "tippy tap."
The "tippy-tap" project, Southeast Asia Regional Director for World Neighbors, Edd Wright said, is a pure technology their NGO partners and other communities from before the onset of the said program, may already be familiar with.
He also added, "What ICRO did was" was promote consciousness on the essentiality of good personal hygiene and sanitation, which activated the amplified acceptance of various communities that build and use the "tippy-tap."
Also, according to Wright, this development is particularly essential in areas with low accessibility of water. That is why "tippy-tap" is appropriate for many communities the NGO is working with, in the frequently-dry Timor-Leste.
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