3 August
Around 1,400 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel have been deployed to support Victoria’s Covid-19 response. Some of the tasks being performed by the personnel are contact tracing, data management, logistics and planning, public health testing, support paramedics with the transport of non-emergency patients and more. If required, the personnel will also support aged care facilities and response centre in the state. Currently, about 3,200 ADF personnel are deployed across Australia as part of Operation Covid-19 Assist.
The US Department of Defense (DOD) has contracted Curative for the supply of oral fluid swab test kits. Under the $42m contract, the company will provide a total of 250,000 Covid-19 test kits to more than 100 military treatment facilities across the DOD. It will also cover testing at Curative’s lab, conduct laboratory validation studies, personnel training, custom software integrations with electronic health records, shipping, and test results.
Colorado National Guard (CONG) soldiers and airmen have achieved Covid-19 testing milestone in support of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. More than 20,000 Coloradans has been tested at 122 testing sites in 28 counties and 34 cities. Joint Task Force-Centennial has employed Mobile Testing and Training teams at the request of the US state. CONG is also performing administrative handling and receiving, labelling, validating and preparing the kits for testing. Currently, 120 CONG members are on duty in the fight against the pandemic.