Operation Rescript was the code name for the British military operation to help tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies between 2020 and 2022. It was described as the UK's "biggest ever homeland military operation in peacetime" by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), involving up to 23,000 personnel within a specialist task force, named the COVID Support Force (CSF). The support was given at the request of the UK government, its devolved administrations and civil authorities (including the National Health Service (NHS)) through the Military aid to the civil authorities (MACA) mechanism.
Launched in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic's first wave, the operation began with the airlifting of critical COVID-19 patients, logistical support, planning support and the formation of a helicopter task force. From April 2020, the CSF began helping plan, construct and staff several temporary critical care hospitals across the UK and also provided drivers and call handlers to reinforce ambulance services. In May 2020, the CSF helped with mass COVID-19 testing across the country to help reach a government target for 100,000 tests per day. These tests were largely carried out at mobile testing units which had been set up by the CSF in areas such as police stations, fire stations, care homes, prisons and benefit centres.
During the pandemic's second wave, from September 2020, the CSF assisted with more mass testing and, from December 2020, began assisting with the UK's vaccination rollout through providing planning support, medical staff and constructing vaccination centres — a task which was described as "unparalleled in its scale and complexity" by Brigadier Phil Prosser, Commander of Military Support to the Vaccine Delivery Programme.
Other support provided by the armed forces included the testing of the NHS' contact tracing phone application, NHS Test and Trace, the manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE), the creation of disinfectants, including the Virusend formula, and countering COVID-19 misinformation. It was one of two British military operations to assist with tackling the pandemic; the other being Operation Broadshare which focuses on activities overseas, including within the British Overseas Territories (BOTs).
In November 2022, Defence Minister James Heappey stated that the operation had concluded, although the exact date of its conclusion was not specified.
Background
In December 2019, a cluster of "pneumonia" cases were reported in Wuhan, China. These cases were later found to be caused by a newly identified SARS-CoV-2 virus. On 20 January 2020, the first cases of the virus outside China were confirmed in Japan, South Korea and Thailand. By 29 January, cases had continued to spread and the first two cases were confirmed in the United Kingdom. On 28 February, the virus was confirmed to have spread within the UK population and, by 4 March, there had been an upsurge in cases within the country. The pandemic grew to be considered the most serious peacetime emergency the UK has faced in a century.
On 16 March 2020, the British government mobilised 10,000 military personnel to help tackle the escalating outbreak. This military support was made available through the Military aid to the civil authorities (MACA) mechanism which allows government departments, the devolved administrations and civil authorities to request military support in times of emergency. Media outlets began speculating the extent of the military's involvement, with one report from Sky News claiming troops may be used to "help cope with the breakdown of civil society", whilst another, from The Times, claimed prisons may need to be staffed by military personnel if prison staff became ill. These reports caused some public alarm which prompted Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to publicly dismiss the stories as "fictional" and urge caution. On 19 March 2020, a further 10,000 military personnel were put on standby to form a specialist task force to help tackle the virus, named the COVID Support Force (CSF). The names of two military operations were announced as being Operation Rescript and Operation Broadshare; Rescript being focused within the United Kingdom, whilst Broadshare focused on activities overseas. When planning the operation, experience was drawn from previous homeland military operations, including Operation Olympics, which provided security for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Operation Redfold, which was a contingency to limit any disruption caused by a No-deal Brexit in 2020, and Operation Morlop, the response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018.