Army ready to maintain order

THE Army will begin giving military support to help fight Covid-19 from tomorrow.

It will place 38 liaison officers in regions to identify how they can assist.

The Government is calling in military support amid bans on large public meetings, prison officers facing possible riots and panic buying at the shops.

Medical regiments and hygiene units at Army headquarters in Andover, Hants, will be deployed in the next six weeks to provide care, make provision for the dead and mount cleaning teams in contaminated areas.

A senior Army source said last night: “From tomorrow we’ll be working with regional authorities to reassure them we’ll be able to help. But we cannot do everything and it will be on a priority basis.

“We are told this virus will peak in three to five weeks and that will be a critical time for hospitals, prisons, public services and people across communities who will need reassurance that they can still get food and water.”

Under contingency plans Army drivers will move food and urgent medical supplies and support police operations.

Tomorrow, troops will begin receiving training updates to help firefighters and paramedics bridge expected gaps caused by self-isolation.

Others will prepare to provide three tiers of field hospital.the first may be put next to care homes, the second in empty council buildings to help the NHS and the third will deal with what the Ministry of Defence (MOD) describes as the “safe collation” of bodies.

Prison officers will also be supported. Last week 12 inmates died after riots spread across Italian jails when family visits were banned.

The fact visitors are a major source of drug smuggling could also be a flashpoint. But

Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said a more likely worry would be rebellious inmates resenting the absence of a family visit.

She said: “The risk here is increased attacks on prison staff, rather than full-scale rioting.”

Measures to help protect soldiers from the virus include banning families and nonessential visitors from the

Royal Marines Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon. Bases at Catterick and Pirbright face similar restrictions. More than 900 Royal Marines will be kept on in Norway, despite the cancellation of a large Nato exercise after a reported 200 suspected Covid-19 cases.

Royal Navy ships are carrying supplies to sustain troops for another eight weeks.

A MOD spokesman said:

“We remain in close contact with other Government departments should they need further assistance.”

‘Attacks on jail staff are a risk’