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The Department of Defence issued a statement early on Wednesday morning, labelling a Channel 9 story “misleading and incorrect”.
According to the release, the broadcaster ran a story on Tuesday, 14 April claiming that Sydney's HMAS Watson had been placed into lockdown.
It was further claimed that all resident Navy personnel on-base at the time had been confined to their rooms indefinitely, in a bid to curb the continued COVID-19 outbreak.
Sources report that a number of Chilean personnel are currently based at HMAS Watson for training. The channel said that there was no information on whether any of the service members had contracted the virus.
Defence has confirmed, "HMAS Watson has not been placed in lockdown for COVID-19, nor for any other reason."
Members living on base are not confined to their quarters, however they are following the direction of the federal and NSW governments to refrain from all non-essential travel. This is in line with broader community actions and expectations, and applies equally to all Defence establishments.
Defence also confirmed that there has not been an outbreak of COVID-19, nor any positive cases of COVID-19, at HMAS Watson.
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