The West Virginia National Guard is increasing its testing capabilities for Covid-19 as part of the statewide effort to test more West Virginians for the virus. It has nearly doubled the capacity for testing teams to a total of 15 as the unit approaches 200 days of assisting at the direction of Governor Jim Justice. Testing teams will support Justice’s initiative to increase testing throughout West Virginia, especially in counties that have witnessed an increased spread in community transmission.
A US Air Force (USAF) C-17 Globemaster III aircraft has transported a mobile field hospital from Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, to Kingston, Jamaica. The hospital will be donated to health care providers on behalf of the American people. It will support the Caribbean nation’s ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The hospital, costing $753,000, was purchased as part of US Southern Command’s ongoing assistance to countries responding to the global pandemic in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. It was funded by the command’s humanitarian assistance program (HAP) and is capable of housing up to 70 patient beds.
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The Australian government has announced new initiatives as it continues to support Australian Defence Force (ADF) Reservists through the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of these initiatives, the government has announced additional reserve days to offer supplementary employment for up to 21,000 existing reservists and extra 25,000 reserve days to help recruit up to 500 additional ADF Reservists. Furthermore, the government announced an overall increase of up to 210,000 in the total reserve days for the current financial year. Minister for Defence Senator Linda Reynolds said over the past one year, the Reserve members have made vital contributions to the Defence’s response in its commitment to the national response to Covid-19.
Nearly 100 military personnel are set to aid Birmingham City Council with its ‘drop and collect’ service to help with the Covid-19 testing programme. As part of the service, tests will be dropped off at a resident’s door and later on collected by staff. This testing is aimed at areas which have high rates of infection and will provide service to people who cannot leave their homes. BBC reported the council’s deputy leader as saying at a weekly briefing that it would assist civilian efforts to maximise the numbers of tests able to be done.
