CANBERRA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Defence Minister has flagged deploying the military to help combat the outbreak of COVID-19.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds recently declared that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) stands ready to provide support "if needed."
The ADF has already deployed specialist staff to work with the Department of Health and to help manufacture face masks.
"Defence is fully engaged with the whole-of-government response to COVID-19 which includes continuing to provide ongoing support across Commonwealth and state governments," Reynolds told Nine Entertainment newspapers on Wednesday.
"We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and remain focused on contingency planning, protecting defence personnel to minimise the burden on public health capacity and mitigating the risk to operations.
"Defence continues to follow the advice of Australian health authorities and stands ready to provide further support if requested."
Her comments came hours after Chris Bowen, the health spokesperson for the Opposition Labor Party, urged the government to deploy ADF personnel to help set up the 100 emergency fever clinics announced by the government earlier in March.
"We need the fever clinics up and running, even if they're not actively being used straightaway," Bowen said.
A compulsory callout of ADF reservists occurred in January at the height of the bushfire crisis when 6500 full-time and reserve personnel were deployed to help with recovery efforts.
