US military operations abroad continue despite the coronavirus which forces the military to take unprecedented precautions to guard against the coronavirus pandemic, an American general assured Friday.
"There is no impact on operations," said General John Hyten, number two on the American staff. "The missions that we are currently carrying out in the world are still carried out according to the same rules of engagement and on the same model as one or two months ago," General Hyten told a small group of journalists. "We continue to adjust to the various constraints but the coronavirus has no impact on these missions," he added, stressing that the number of contaminated American soldiers abroad remains "very limited".
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The Pentagon announced on Wednesday a two-month freeze on all of its planned movements around the world, including the deployment and repatriation of soldiers deployed to theaters of war, in an attempt to stem the pandemic.
As of Friday morning, the Pentagon counted 652 cases of Covid-19 among military and civilian employees of the military, their families, and Pentagon contractors. A contractor and a military spouse died from the coronavirus.