"The oxygen concentrators, this afternoon, delivered to SAMES - Autonomous Service of Medicines and Health Equipment, will allow the strengthening of the clinical management of severe cases of Covid-19, given the current context of increasing cases of infection by the covid-19 in the country and the admission of positive cases in isolation centers".

According to the statement sent to Lusa News Agency, "this was the first delivery of equipment" acquired by UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), "as part of Portugal's extraordinary financial contribution to UNICEF in Timor-Leste, in the amount of 75 thousand €, for the purchase of personal protective equipment and oxygen concentrators, to support the response by the Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste to the pandemic."

On 20 July, Portugal had already made available a first batch of 12,000 vaccines against covid-19 and the necessary material for its administration.

East Timor recorded on 18 August two deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a 35-year-old woman and her 24-week-old fetus, bringing the total death toll to 40 in the country.

According to data released on 18 August by the Integrated Center for Crisis Management (CIGC), the fatal victims are a 35-year-old pregnant woman who had been referred on 8 August to the national hospital Guido Valadares with covid-19 and bronchopneumonia, and who died of multiple organ failure, and her 24-week-old unborn child.

In the last 24 hours, East Timor has registered 226 new cases of contamination, 167 of which are in the capital, and 73 recoveries, making there are 2,507 active cases on 18 August, bringing the total to 13,155 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.