UK enters first day of lockdown as military bolsters fight

Boris Johnson addressed the UK on 23 March and announced further restrictions to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

The new measures increase the likelihood that the armed forces will play a greater role in supporting public services over the coming weeks.

At least 50 military personnel have started distributing personal protective equipment to National Health Service (NHS) facilities across the country, with the numbers likely to rise to 250 once the distribution network is running at full capacity.

Alongside this, military planners have visited London’s Excel centre with counterparts from NHS England to determine if the centre could be used as a makeshift hospital if required.

Additionally, the RAF has been called on transport critically ill COVID-19 patients in Scotland where an A400M aircraft was used to take a patient from the Shetland Islands to an intensive care unit in Aberdeen.  The A400M then returned to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The RAF remains on standby to support public services and aid in repatriation flights if requested by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

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