Australian army soldiers join the battle against coronavirus – as squaddies help face mask factory

Australian army soldiers join the battle against coronavirus – as selfless diggers help face mask factory keep up with unprecedented demand

• Highly-trained soldiers are being drafted in to work on face mask production
• The 20 ADF engineers are now working in a regional factory in northern Victoria
• Med-Con had been struggling for business, but is now struggling with demand 
• Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

By Alisha Rouse For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 03:15 GMT, 20 March 2020 | Updated: 05:40 GMT, 20 March 2020

Selfless Australian soldiers are now helping to battle the coronavirus by working the production line at the country’s only face mask factory.

The Med-Con factory in Shepparton, a regional area of northern Victoria, is facing an unprecedented demand to make face masks and hospital gowns during the crisis.

Hospitals are now coming under increasing strain, as the number of confirmed cases in Australia hit 814, with seven people now dead. 

The factory’s usual workers have now been joined by 20 members of the Australian Defence Force, most of whom are highly-trained engineers.

But for the next few weeks, they will be on the front line of Australia’s fightback against the virus, helping on the firm’s production line.  

The company had been struggling in the face of cheap foreign imports, but now hopes to hire a huge local workforce to keep up with demand. 

General manager Steve Csiszar told Sunrise: ‘Every product that we make is part of this fight against the coronavirus.

‘It’s a small, Australian manufacturer. And particularly being regional based, we’ve been under the pump.

Soldiers from the ADF (pictured) have been drafted into work in the factory in regional Victoria

A family protect themselves from the coronavirus (pictured) as they walked around Sydney’s CBD on Tuesday, opting to wear increasingly popular face masks

‘But this is wartime, this is a war. It’s a war on the virus, and the virus has a war on us.’ 

The army were drafted in to meet the overwhelming demand after the company received a huge government contract.  

‘It’s been pretty good, all the staff here are really friendly, easy to get along with,’ said one soldier. 

Corporal Bradley Harper said it was far from his usual work.

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN AUSTRALIA: 856

New South Wales: 382

Victoria: 178

Queensland: 184

Western Australia: 52 

South Australia: 42

Tasmania: 10

Australian Capital Territory: 4

Northern Territory: 2  

TOTAL CASES:  856

DEAD: 7

‘[I normally do] instrument repair, electronic instrument repair, radio communications and what not,’ he said.

Asked how it fitted into his skill set he replied: ‘It doesn’t!’

Speaking about her new colleagues, staff member Lyn Stockwell said: ‘He’s being going very well, he listens and he follows instructions.

‘What more could you ask for? He’s doing it on his own now, they’ve done really well and picked it up really fast.’

The company is now looking to train more locals and more than double its workforce.

Its owner hopes that even after the crisis subsides, the government and hospitals will choose to keep buying locally made, Australian products.  

A woman wearing a face mask as a preventative measure against coronavirus COVID-19 in Sydney on March 16 (pictured) as sales of the product soared

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