Australian doctors have joined the fight against COVID-19 in Timor-Leste in a bid to prevent devastation in one of South-East Asia's most vulnerable countries.
The small nation and its population of 1.2 million people has been in a state of emergency since the 28th of March.
The Menzies School of Health Research has been working in the Pacific Island country for many years helping fight infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria.
The Menzies School of Health Research director Professor Alan Cass says helping fight COVID-19 has been an opportunity to strengthen ties between the two nations.
"One month ago there wasn't an ability to test for COVID-19 in Timor-Leste, and our team was able to work with local hospital staff to begin testing," he said.
Inside the country's national hospital in Dili, Australia's Dr Joshua Francis has been helping to establish testing procedures.
The infectious disease specialist is one of 30 Australian and Timorese health workers from Menzies trying to stop coronavirus from spreading.
"It is quite confronting really how little [resources] there are compared to the things we take for granted in Australia," he said.