Chris

The military are on alert to assist the civil authority. They will be doing exercises to test their readiness to move supplies, and probably very sick people as well. Hospital wards that are not normally equipped for critical care are being prepared to become impromptu ICUs. This is all contingency planning - they will be hoping it’s not necessary to use any of it in the end, but it’s better that they’re prepared than caught out.

I will also add, though it looks frightening when a lot of military hardware suddenly starts appearing, just the time I spent around this stuff, and the people who operate it, back in my salad days as a CCF cadet, it really isn’t - these people are absolutely smegging brilliant at what they do. If it’s necessary for the military to step in they will keep things moving.