The commitment of the Armed Forces in favor of compatriots in the coronavirus emergency continues, yesterday afternoon, an HH-101A helicopter of the Air Force, in readiness service since yesterday at the base of Cervia, headquarters of the 15th Stormo "SAR" (Search and Rescue) intervened, at the request of the Lombardy Regional Emergency and Urgency Agency, to transport a 62-year-old patient suffering from coronavirus, from Cremona to the Morelli Hospital in Sondalo (Sondrio ).
The helicopter, with a specialized medical team on board for biocontainment transport, took off from Cervia shortly after receiving the mission order and reached the Cremona Hospital, where it loaded the patient. The aircraft then took off again for Bormio, for the subsequent transfer of the patient to the Morelli Hospital in Sondalo.
For the coronavirus emergency, the Ministry of Defense has made available to the Institutions HH-101A helicopters, latest generation aircraft used for many types of missions, from search and rescue to support for special operations, these helicopters are also capable of to load and transport special insulated stretchers, ATI (Aircraft Transit Isolator), specifically designed for the air transport in biocontainment of highly infectious patients.
The strong synergy between the Defense, Foreign, Health and ProCiv Ministries has been going on continuously for over a month now. With the first cases of contagion occurred in Northern Italy, the Armed Forces made available, for possible health surveillance, military infrastructures distributed along the entire peninsula from Val D'Aosta to Sicily with about 2200 rooms and about 6600 beds, as well as to provide a share of its medical and nursing staff of the Army, of the Navy, of the Air Force and of the Carabinieri, upon request of the civil protection, to respond to the needs of the Lombard territories. It also re-articulated the national device "Op. Safe Roads ”to ensure the appropriate security framework in competition with the police in the areas located in the red zone area.
The IOC has implemented an Emergency Room (H24 / 7 out of 7) dedicated to Emergency which has coordinated all the transfers of compatriots from abroad and currently manages and shares the information of interest with the other departments; The IOC also monitors the situation of the Italian military in all national and international missions and operations, imparting specific precautionary measures to protect personnel.
The Armed Forces play their part in the "country system" thanks to constant management of the health emergency in coordination with the Department of Civil Protection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Health.