Cov warehouse is back in business after Covid closure

A COVENTRY warehouse has reopened after more than 30 employees tested positive for coronavirus.

Fyffes Coventry closed for a deep clean on Monday, August 17, reopening two days later on Wednesday, August 19.

A spokesman for the firm said that the closure allowed for additional deep cleaning of the entire workplace and that enhanced disinfection measures have also been carried out.

“Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our people,” the spokesman added.

The two-day closure came after three employees reported feeling unwell and were tested for Covid-19.

The tests came back positive and further testing among the workforce was carried out.

Those three employees have now fully recovered, Fyffes said.

Between August 3 and August 14 a further 11 employees tested positive for Covid-19 and through contact tracing, 26 other employees were asked to selfisolate.

Fyffes alerted the local authorities. The spokesman said that the remaining 182 employees were all tested and while the majority were negative for the virus, 22 of them tested positive. All of these had no symptoms of the virus.

As a precaution, normal operations were suspended for two days and the site was temporarily closed. A statement published on Fyffes’ website reads: “Since March, across our ripening centres in the UK, we have implemented social distancing, regular deep-cleaning and provided PPE.

“Throughout this process we have supported our employees financially to ensure they are not disadvantaged by following government guidelines and best practice in the management of this virus.

“Coventry City Council, the HSE and Public Health England have been extremely helpful and supportive throughout and they told us that at this time they are satisfied with the measures we have in place.

“We are looking at additional measures we can take and we are asking employees to be additionally vigilant in following government guidelines both at home and at work.

“We have robust business continuity plans which have been invoked and we are confident that we can continue to supply bananas to our customers with minimal disruption. All our customers have been extremely accommodating and supportive and mindful of employee welfare throughout. Our products are healthy, safe and nutritious and research indicates the virus cannot be spread via fruit.

“We would like to thank all our employees for their ongoing commitment and support.

“We wish any employees affected a speedy recovery and urge anyone reading this statement to follow best practice and government guidelines in order to reduce the risk of infection.”