For months, Girmay Mengesha has been an unofficial translator and health adviser in the public-housing tower he shares with hundreds of migrants in Melbourne.

The Ethiopian-born immigrant jumped into the informal role when he noticed most COVID-19 information was in English, rather than the 10 different languages spoken in his block.

"Our people were scared,” the 30-year-old said. "The lack of information meant we had to improvise.”