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The ADF plans to significantly increase its support to Victoria to help it contain the recent outbreak of COVID-19, following a request from the Victorian government.
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Around 1,000 ADF personnel will deploy to Victoria over the coming days, with up to 850 ADF members to provide direct operational support in terms of hotel quarantine monitoring.
Another 200 personnel will provide logistical and medical support for public testing initiatives.
Overnight, the state recorded 20 new cases of COVID-19, following a week of increased community transmission that concerned local health officials.
Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds said that the move builds on support provided to the state since earlier in the year.
“Defence has been providing support to Victoria since April and I’m pleased we’re able to rapidly increase our assistance to help Victoria respond to its current COVID-19 circumstances,” Minister Reynolds said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic requires a proactive national response and Defence is well postured to provide scalable support to states and territories.”
Under Operation COVID-19 ASSIST, Defence has been providing tailored support to state and territory authorities, to reinforce and expand their capacity to respond to the pandemic.
This additional assistance to the Victorian government supplements existing planning support to Emergency Management Victoria and the Department of Health and Human Services.
"Victoria has requested the assistance of other states as we continue to ramp up testing and community awareness in key coronavirus hot spots," a Victorian government spokesperson said.
