U.S. Marines' deployment to northern Australia cancelled amid COVID-19 concerns

The Australian government has cancelled a deployment of U.S. Marines to the Northern Territory (NT) amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Approximately 2,500 U.S. troops were due to arrive in Darwin, the capital of the NT, in April as part of a rotation training initiative that began in 2012.

Linda Reynolds, Australia's minister for defence, announced in a statement on Monday that the deployment has been postponed.

Reynolds said that Australia will work with the United States to devise options for a possible later deployment, subject to conditions improving and the viability of such a deployment proceeding.

"Any decision in relation to the 2020 Marine Rotational Force - Darwin (MRF-D) in no way affects Australia's commitment to host next year's, or subsequent, MRF-D rotations," she said in a statement.