Military installations housing US forces in Djibouti were placed under “precautionary” public health emergency measures on Thursday, while China is also stepping up precautions against any emergency in its first overseas military base.
China started operating its Djibouti base – which it calls a logistics support hub – in 2017.
“Health declarations are now required for personnel in Djibouti,” a source close to the Chinese military said, adding that the base had ventilators.
First PLA live ammunition drill in Djibouti
Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military affairs commentator, said the pandemic control efforts applied in Djibouti would be the same as those adopted at military bases inside China.
“In some circumstances, the requirements will be stricter – for example, the entry and exit controls at the Djibouti base are more stringent,” he said. “There are medical personnel in the base who are also trained to take care of and test for Covid-19 [the disease caused by the coronavirus], and there are facilities for that.
