All students have been declared healthy after testing negative for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.

OdeteViegas,the Director of Guido Valadares National Hospital, who oversaw the COVID-19 tests, said the students had been released and were heading back to their homes.

Joao da Silva Lopes, one of the student’s released from quarantine, praised Timor-Leste’s preventative measures, saying that despite the country’s limited health resources, it had been vigilant and cautious to “protect citizens from dying.”

"We didn’t want to risk our parents, neighbours and also our country,” Lopes told the Independente. “Before we go to our parents we must obey 14-day quarantine (regulation)."

In an interview after the student’s release, Xanana Gusmao, the leader of the Timor-Leste’s coalition government-in-waiting,said he was “proud” of how the students collaborated with the government’s quarantine rules, and that he was pleased they were healthy and could return to their families safely.

As of Thursday, 1035 people arriving from affected COVID-19 countries were in mandatory quarantine at 18 sites across the country, the Ministry of Health said.

Some 433 people have left quarantine, having completed their 14-day stay.

The students had been quarantined at the Nova Horizonte Hotel in Metiaut or Audian Hotel.