LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — Thirty ambulances and more than 60 medical personnel will be stationed across the state to help transport COVID-19 patients to other regions if nearby hospitals are too full to admit them, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Friday.

Parson said the mutual aid ambulances will begin arriving Friday in five districts from across the state and will operate anywhere they are needed through Sept. 5.

The state sent ambulances from Arkansas to Springfield in mid-July when that region began straining under new COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant.

"These 30 new ambulance teams...