Speaking to media, Odete said she regrets the attitude of the patient’s family who made verbal and physical assault on the health director of Ermera, labelling the actions as criminal acts and a disservice to the hard work her health team were doing every day.

“We work in the front lines and we are at risk now of not only COVID-19 but also we are threatened from the public and citizens for doing our job,” said Belo.

The plea comes after a family member of a COVID-19 patient assaulted Ermera Municipal Antonio de Deus Fatima for moving the patient from Ermera to Dili to get medical treatment. The patient was one of 79 COVID-19 positive people transferred from Ermera to the capital city for isolation. 

Fatima said it was a concerning new phenomenon whereby health workers were seen as making decisions that put patient’s lives at risk as opposed to being a solution to the current crisis.

This is not the first time health officials in Timor-Leste have been attacked when they are trying to implement covid-19 mitigation, prevention or control measures in the country.

This latest case has taken place when the Ermera municipality has become the country’s new hotspot for COVID-19 infections reporting 69% of all new cases in Timor-Leste last week.