The U.S. Department of Defense has decided to canceled joint military exercise as the novel coronavirus continues to spread globally.
The Pentagon recently suspended deployments for troops and their families into South Korea and Italy. Currently decided to canceled major military exercise between the U.S. and several European nations and U.S. involvement will be reduced in another exercise amid the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, US European Command announced Wednesday.
According to We Are The Mighty, in a measure to keep troops from potentially contracting the COVID-19 virus, a joint American and European exercise has been canceled when authorities determined that it was necessary to stop the exercise to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus that is spreading through the European Continent right now.
The movement of US military personnel in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have also been placed under some increased restrictions to help prevent the spread of the virus, and more restrictions are expected, according to CNN.
U.S. European Command also announced Wednesday that it would reduce the number of US participants in a separate scheduled upcoming exercise with other nations in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
The command said in a news release that activities associated with Exercise Defender-Europe 20 “will be adjusted accordingly and we’ll work closely with Allies and partners to meet our highest priority training objectives.”
Furthermore, the U.S. and Israel have canceled another joint military exercise as the novel coronavirus continues to spread globally.
“Israeli Defense Force (IDF), has canceled the remaining portion of Exercise Juniper Cobra 20. The decision is in alignment with recent Israeli Ministry of Health guidelines on COVID-19, and a precautionary measure to ensure the health and safety of all participants,” the US Europe Command said in a statement Thursday.
On Tuesday, US military leaders announced that they would be scaling back the size and scope of the African Lion military exercise with Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal “to minimize exposure of US and partner nation service members to the novel coronavirus.”
Also, according to the current information, due to the COVID-19 concerns the following United States airshows are canceled: MCAS Yuma (AZ), 50th Annual Air Show at NAF El Centro (CA), AirFest at March ARB (CA).
