Australian Defence Force personnel will patrol the NSW-Victoria border after it closes at midnight to contain the COVID-19 outbreak in Melbourne.
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The ADF is finalising plans to deploy between 350-500 personnel to support NSW Police Force border checkpoints, The Daily Telegraph reports.
"The first of these are expected to deploy to the border to achieve the NSW government directed border closure timings, pending finalising the agreement with NSW authorities," an ADF spokeswoman told the newspaper.
Defence Force personnel won't be directly involved with law enforcement but will support police operations.
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"Defence is ready to provide support for a range of contingencies in both states and will continue to work to support states and territories when requested," the spokeswoman said.
The newspaper reports the ADF is also in talks with the Victorian government to deploy five more personnel to provide planning support for local coronavirus restrictions.
There are already ADF 200 personnel supporting public COVID-19 testing in the state.
Victoria on Monday had recorded an additional 127 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths.
NSW reported 10 cases, all in hotel quarantine, from 11,500 tests.
Australian Associated Press
