Epidemiological Brief Nº20: 30 August – 5 September 2021

COVID-19 EPIDEMIOLOGICAL BRIEF Nº20-English-released

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COVID-19 in Timor-Leste
Epidemiological Brief Nº20: 30 August – 5 September 2021
A regular brief edited by: (1) Pilar 3 & Pilar 5 of the Ministry of Health (as part of the Task Force for the Prevention and
Mitigation of Covid-19 Outbreak, Integrated Centre for Crisis Management, Situation Room); (2) Instituto Nasional de Saúde;
(3) Menzies School of Health Research; (4) AUSMAT; (5) Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control; (6) CoMo Consortium;
(7) WHO.
Cumulative cases: 17,618 (1,216 cases and 18 deaths since last report).
Data current as at 5 September 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect many people in Timor-Leste, and 18 people died with
COVID-19 in the past week.
1. Epidemic curve
The epidemic curve shows the total case numbers for each day, in the green bars (measured
against the y-axis on the left hand side of the graph). The blue line shows the cumulative total
case numbers (measured against the y-axis on the right hand side of the graph), which have
risen now to 17,618 since the beginning of the global pandemic (as at 5 September, 2021).
COVID-19 in Timor-Leste Epidemiological Brief 5 September 2021
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This graph shows case distribution per week in the year 2021.
The epidemic curve for each of the municipalities are shown below.
AILEU
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AINARO
BAUCAU
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BOBONARO
COVALIMA
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DILI
ERMERA
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LAUTEM
LIQUIÇA
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MANATUTO
MANUFAHI
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RAEOA
VIQUEQUE
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2. Hospitalisations and mortality
Since 1 March 2021, there have been 552 people with COVID-19 who have required
hospitalisation. Hospitalisation numbers only include those with moderate, severe and critical
disease, who need treatment in specialised healthcare facilities for COVID-19. In the past
week, 81 cases have been hospitalised at either Vera Cruz, Lahane, HNGV or other referral
hospitals.
This graph shows the cases that have needed hospitalisation since March 2021 in green bars.
The blue line shows the cumulative number of people who have needed hospitalisation. The
graph shows that the cases requiring hospitalisation are increasing.
There have been 80 people who have died with COVID-19, including 18 people who died in
the last week.
Out of 77 adults who have died with COVID-19 in Timor-Leste so far, 74 (96%) were not fully
vaccinated, and 2 (3%) were vaccinated with Sinovac.
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3. Incidence rate estimates
The incidence rate measures the number of confirmed cases in a population, per day, and is
usually measured as cases per 100,000 people per day. The average daily notification rate for
Timor-Leste over the past 7 days (30 August – 5 September 2021) was 13.2 cases per 100,000
population per day, compared to 23.7 cases per 100,000 population per day in the previous
reporting period. The graph below shows the average daily notification rate for each of the 13
municipalities of Timor-Leste (7 day rolling average).
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The notification rate in all municipalities over the last 7 days is reported in the table below.

4. Vaccination update
Approximately 23,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given in the past week.
As of 5 September 2021, there have been 395,506 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine given in
Timor-Leste, representing 52.5% of the eligible population of people aged 18 years and above.
As of 5 September 2021, 209,779 had been given their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine in
Timor-Leste, representing 27.8% of the eligible population of people aged 18 years and above.
This graphic shows the proportion of people vaccinated with one dose (light green) and two
doses (dark green) for each municipality.
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People are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 two weeks after they receive their
second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. People who are fully vaccinated with two doses of the
COVID-19 vaccine are at reduced risk COVID-19 infection. If someone who is fully vaccinated
gets COVID-19 they are likely to have asymptomatic or mild infection only, even if they are old
or have other comorbidities.
The total number of doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Timor-Leste, plus guaranteed future supply
of AstraZeneca vaccine, is enough to fully vaccinate the whole adult population. Work is
underway to secure Pfizer vaccine doses that can be given to children aged 12-17 years.
5. Recommendations and public health actions
The situation with COVID-19 in Timor-Leste currently is still very serious, and community
transmission is occurring in every municipality, causing severe cases and deaths in people who
are not fully vaccinated.
People who are not fully vaccinated, are at high risk of developing severe COVID-19 and
needing respiratory support. They are also at high risk of dying with COVID-19. People who
are not vaccinated are more than 10 times more likely to die with COVID-19 than people
who are fully vaccinated.
Vaccination is very effective at preventing severe disease and death from COVID-19.
Increasing vaccine coverage rapidly in the population is the best strategy for helping TimorLeste return to normal by making it safe to ease current restrictions.
Mandatory home confinement and sanitary fences help to reduce transmission of COVID-19
by reducing interactions between people, but these should only be needed for a short time,
until vaccine coverage in the population is high enough to provide good protection against
severe cases and death.
All adults who have not had a vaccine should get their first dose as soon as possible. A
second dose of vaccine is needed to provide the best protection, especially against the Delta
strain of COVID-19.
It is important that vaccination rates increase rapidly and urgently in municipalities with
lower vaccine coverage, including Ainaro, Aileu, Ermera, Liquica and Manufahi.
Early identification and isolation of people with COVID-19 helps to limit further transmission.
People who have had close contact with a case should stay at home and get a COVID-19 test.
People with symptoms of sore throat, cough, runny nose, loss of taste or smell, fever or
shortness of breath should go to a health clinic to be reviewed and should get a COVID-19
test. Good quality treatment can be provided in Ministry of Health COVID-19 treatment
facilities, and the majority of people with COVID-19 infection will recover. Some people with
COVID-19 are able to isolate at home. People with COVID-19 should follow advice to isolate,
to protect against the spread of COVID-19 to others.
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