Socially-distanced Scots soldiers training in coronavirus bubbles

A British Army regiment is operating in coronavirus bubbles as soldiers return to combat exercises after spending lockdown ­providing civilians with Covid-19 tests.

A soldier from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards wearing a face mask during Exercise Solway Eagle

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards will spend around three weeks at Kirkcudbright Training Centre near Dumfries taking part in live firing exercises.

Over acres of farmland, around 250 soldiers are planning and executing operations under stringent new safety procedures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Soldiers are arranged in household groups of ten to 15 people within larger cohorts, and avoid contact with other squadrons.

Major Adam Champion, the officer commanding C Squadron, said the regiment is taking action to minimise risk from the virus.

“There are about 250 soldiers in total in the exercise that are deployed here but [most] of those are socially distanced from each other so for the most part we only see a small number of us on any one day,” he said.

The exercise is the first for the regiment since lockdown, and Major Champion said its purpose is to return troops to their “core soldiering skills”.

During lockdown, his ­soldiers were in car parks providing testing facilities for Covid-19.