The PLA sent medical team members to participate in the anti-epidemic Xinhua News Agency.
The PLA sent medical team members to participate in the anti-epidemic Xinhua News Agency.
The role of the army in fighting epidemic diseases
The army's help in preventing and controlling the epidemic is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Send military medical staff to directly participate in the treatment of patients.
From China's point of view, when the epidemic spread, the military doctors and nurses of all services mobilized, organized and acted quickly, and rushed to Wuhan to participate in the fight against the epidemic on New Year's Eve. Since then, the China army has taken over the Vulcan Mountain Hospital, which was built in seven days, bringing hope to the people of China at the most severe moment of the epidemic. Abroad, French President Macron announced a number of anti-epidemic measures in his TV speech on March 16, one of which was to put a military hospital in Alsace, a region with severe epidemic in the east, to help fight the epidemic. They will mainly take care of patients and send them to other areas with better medical equipment. The United States sent more than 200 graduates from military health science universities to join the military medical team to fight the epidemic. Italy and South Korea have also announced that in order to alleviate the medical pressure, they will invest military medical staff to support private hospitals and participate in the treatment of patients.
China military network map of Yun -20 transporting medical personnel and materials to Wuhan.
China military network map of Yun -20 transporting medical personnel and materials to Wuhan.
Evacuate people and transport materials from epidemic areas.
In this epidemic, the China Air Force dispatched military aircraft several times to carry out the task of transporting personnel and materials to Wuhan and other areas with severe epidemic. In the early morning of February 2, the Air Force dispatched eight Il -76 large transport planes, which took off from Shenyang, Lanzhou, Guangzhou and Nanjing respectively, and airlifted 795 troops to Wuhan to support the Hubei medical team and 58 tons of materials. On February 12, two domestic Zhi -8 transport helicopters dispatched by an airborne assault brigade helicopter regiment of Hubei Airborne Forces were urgently transferred from Wuhan to Xiangyang and Yichang to transport 600 pieces of 4 tons of medicines and materials urgently needed for epidemic prevention medical treatment. On February 13, China Air Force sent 1 1 military aircraft to Wuhan to airlift troops to support medical personnel and materials in Hubei, including Yun -20 large transport aircraft made in China. This is the first time that the Air Force has systematically dispatched large and medium-sized transport aircraft in active service to carry out emergency large-scale air transport missions. After the outbreak of the China epidemic, some other countries also sent air forces to Wuhan to evacuate their citizens stranded in Wuhan, or sent support materials to China. For example, Germany sent 1 Air Force A3 10 to evacuate its citizens to the epidemic area, and Turkey sent 1 Air Force A-400M to carry out the evacuation mission and support Wuhan 1000 sets of chemical protective clothing, 93,500 medical masks and 1000 sets of disposable protective clothing. On February 4th, 5th and 9th, Russia dispatched Air Force Il -76 transport plane to Wuhan three times to rescue personal protective equipment and other humanitarian relief materials. The air forces of Myanmar, Pakistan and Belarus also sent medical aid for epidemic prevention to Wuhan.
Construction or provision of emergency medical or isolation facilities.
With the increasingly severe epidemic situation, many countries have the problem of insufficient medical facilities. Therefore, countries have mobilized their military forces to build "refuge hospitals" or use military bases to accommodate isolated people. On March 24th, the Serbian army quickly transformed the Belgrade Convention and Exhibition Center into a hospice hospital with a capacity of 3,000 patients, drawing on the experience of China. On March 23rd, the Iranian army built a "refuge hospital" in the capital Teheran within 48 hours, which can accommodate 2,000 isolated beds and receive patients with mild illness and COVID-19 who is recovering. With the deterioration of COVID-19 epidemic in France, French President Macron announced on March 25th that he would launch an anti-epidemic military operation, and the French army set up a field hospital in Milos, the eastern French city, to receive critically ill patients.
The United States sent two naval hospital ships "Kindness" and "Comfort" to new york and Los Angeles to help relieve the pressure on local hospitals. In COVID-19, on March 24th, the Argentine army deployed a field hospital donated by China at the "May Camp" military base in Buenos Aires province to provide more beds for patients. Some countries also use military bases as isolation points. The Military School of Hanoi Capital Command of the Vietnamese People's Army undertakes the task of receiving Vietnamese citizens who need to be observed in isolation after returning from the epidemic area, and is responsible for the daily life guarantee. As of March 23rd, the Vietnamese military deployed 1 13 isolation points, isolating nearly 40,000 citizens. Indonesia sent its citizens evacuated from Wuhan to the Indonesian National Army military base in Natuna Islands for quarantine inspection. On February 3rd, Italian military aircraft was sent to pick up its citizens in Wuhan and its vicinity, and was also sent to Ola military base in Cesini for 14 days of isolated observation.
Conduct medical research and vaccine research and development.
Military medical researchers also played an important role in fighting the epidemic. The novel coronavirus nucleic acid detection kit developed by the expert group of the Institute of Military Medicine of Chinese Academy of Military Sciences in cooperation with the local company * * *, combined with the automatic nucleic acid extraction technology, greatly shortened the nucleic acid detection time and accelerated the diagnosis speed. At present, they are stepping up research and development of COVID-19 vaccine. The military medical forces of the Vietnamese People's Army have also successfully developed their own COVID-19 test kit. On March 24th, US Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy announced that the US Army Medical R&D Command and the US Army Institute of Infectious Diseases Medicine are assisting in the development of five different COVID-19 vaccines.
In addition to the above tasks, the armed forces of some countries also perform other temporarily assigned tasks. For example, the Singapore Armed Forces temporarily dispatched 1500 soldiers to fight for days and nights, packing and distributing 5.2 million masks to 89 community centers in Singapore. The "Defense Industry Organization" under the Iranian Ministry of National Defense began to produce disinfectants needed by the public, producing 20,000 liters for ordinary Iranians every day. In accordance with the emergency law and relevant regulations, Thailand has mobilized the army and police to set up checkpoints or interception points to control people's travel and implement relevant laws and regulations.
Two U.S. Navy medical ships helped fight the epidemic.
Two U.S. Navy medical ships helped fight the epidemic.
Why mobilize military forces to participate in the fight against the epidemic?
The reason why the army can play multiple roles in fighting the epidemic is related to several factors:
First, because of its strong organization and high discipline, the army can be mobilized and put into action quickly. For example, Singapore's army packs and distributes millions of masks in a few days, which is difficult for other institutions to do.
Second, the army has some special forces and equipment that can be used to deal with the epidemic, such as military medical personnel, chemical defense forces, large transport aircraft, hospital ships and so on. These troops and personnel have corresponding training at ordinary times and can respond quickly in case of emergency. Moreover, the military equipment is more suitable for the needs of various situations. For example, helicopters can be quickly dispatched to areas that cannot be reached by other means of transportation or airports that do not have landing conditions for large aircraft. After some cities adopt the "city closure" measures, materials and personnel can be transported to these areas by helicopter.
Third, the army has a complete and strict command system from top to bottom, and its actions are orderly, timely and efficient, which can better meet the special requirements of crisis situations such as epidemic situation.
Of course, some countries are restricted by domestic laws and regulations, and there may be some restrictions on mobilizing troops, but many of them can also be solved by issuing emergency decrees. Sometimes they will face problems such as how to coordinate the roles of the army and the police, but these will not fundamentally hinder the role of the army.
It is for these reasons that many countries use the military to help fight the epidemic. In fact, not only in the fight against epidemic diseases, the role of the military in dealing with non-traditional security threats has been highly valued since the beginning of 2 1 century. After the "9. 1 1" incident, the armies of many countries have been the main force in counter-terrorism. In addition, the army has also played an important role in anti-piracy, maritime search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. For example, the anti-piracy escort operation of multinational navies in the Gulf of Aden, the joint search and rescue operation of multinational navies in the Indian Ocean after the Malaysia Airlines 370 incident, and the rescue of multinational forces after Typhoon Haiyan attacked the Philippines.