East Timor has first medical worker infected with COVID-19

East Timor announced on Friday that a nurse at a center caring for patients with COVID-19 had been infected by the coronavirus, the first medical worker in the tiny Southeast Asian country to contract the disease. The nurse had been working at an isolation center as well as a hospital. A positive test result was confirmed by a laboratory in Darwin, Australia, said a spokesman for East Timor's Integrated Crisis Management Center.

The city across the Timor Sea has been conducting some virus tests on behalf of East Timor, which has a population of less than 1.3 million. East Timor reported its first case on March 21 and now has 24 confirmed infections, while two people have recovered, Lobo told a news conference.

East Timor's prime minister, Taur Matan Ruak, withdrew his resignation this month, saying he would stay in power to oversee the battle against the pandemic as the government approved a $250 million fund to fight it.