Oekusipost.com Dili - Timor Leste's parliament passed President Francisco Guterres Lu Olo's request to announce the national emergency Coronavirus Disease 2019 (CorVid-19) for a month.
Authorization to declare this state of emergency has escaped by an absolute vote in parliament, and the president will declare a state of emergency on March 28 at 00:00 from 00:00 local time to April 26, 2020.
National emergency authorization covers several points. The first is in the form of sanitation control at international ports and airports, in order to avoid the risk of a pandemic spreading. In addition, border controls also ensure the circulation of internationally important goods and services.
Secondly, restrictions on citizens' activities. The national emergency also orders mandatory quarantine at home or in health facilities or other quarantine facilities as far as necessary and proportional. Housing construction permits are also adjusted to the required sanitation requirements. Travel restrictions are also applied to public routes with government permission.
Third is the right to gather. The Department of Public Health of Timor-Leste has banned residents from gathering to minimize transmission of the virus. This includes restrictions or prohibitions on holding meetings and demonstrations.
Fourth and fifth are rules of worship in public places and commercial activities during national emergencies. During this time the government of Timor-Leste temporarily suspended worship or religious ceremonies involving a number of people. While business activities during reduced or operational adjusted. Health services remain open to meet the medical needs of residents.
Sisxth property right and private economic initiative: the provision of any services and the use of movable or immovable property, health care facilities, commercial or industrial establishments may be requested by the competent public authorities, as well as the determination of mandatory for the opening, operation and operation of companies, establishments and means of production or their closure and other limitations or modifications imposed on the respective activity, including changes to the quantity, nature or price of goods produced and marketed or to the respective procedures and distribution circuits and commercialization, as well as changes to the respective operating regime.
Lastly, workers' rights: it can be determined by the competent public authorities that any employees of public or private entities, regardless of the type of vehicle, present themselves at the service and, if necessary, start to perform their duties in a different place, in a different entity and under hours. different from those that correspond to the existing bond, namely in the case of workers in the sectors of health, civil protection, security and defense, the prevention and fight against the spread of the epidemic, the production, distribution and supply of essential goods and services, the functioning from vital sectors of the economy, the operation of critical infrastructure networks or health care units, as well as in economic sectors vital to the production, supply and supply of essential goods and services to the population.
Although there are some of these restrictions, the state will also respect the rights of people such as the right to life, physical integrity, civil capacity and citizenship, non-retroactivity of criminal law, defense in criminal proceedings, freedom of conscience and religion, not subject to torture, slavery or servitude, not subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, non-discrimination
Timor-Leste's interim Minister of Health Elia Amaral stated that this was a good step to prevent the transmission of CorVid-19.
East Timor's Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak stated that his administration would try to meet the basic needs of small communities during the emergency period.
Timor-Leste reported the first case of the Corona virus on 21 March. One patient was a foreign national who entered Timor Leste in a group that had recently visited another country. Both the Corona virus patient and his entourage are now under medical supervision and quarantine.
Earlier on 11 March 2020, Timor-Leste imposed a ban on entry of tourists from countries with the highest spread of the Corona virus, or those who had recently traveled from Iran, China, South Korea and Italy in the past four weeks.
