Two workers at waste site are taken ill
TWO workers at a waste depot in Derby have contracted coronavirus, the company which runs it has confirmed.
The cases have been confirmed at a commercial waste depot in London Road, which is run by Veolia.
Two members of staff at the site are known to have caught the disease in the last week, with a third person being sent home while awaiting a test result, which later came back negative.
Veolia insists the site is safe and says it has strict measures in place to limit the spread of any infection and which line up with government guidance.
The first case at the depot was confirmed on Wednesday, September 16, with a second case being confirmed four days later on Sunday, September 20.
The company says that following this it put the only other member of staff at the site who had possible contact with the pair in isolation while awaiting their test result. This came back as negative on Monday, September 21.
A spokesperson for Veolia said both people who had contracted the virus are “recovering well and isolating with their families”.
“We can confirm that all Government procedures have been implemented and following a Covid-19 compliance spot check by the HSE we have been highly commended for our control measures,” she said.
“All necessary actions are being taken to prevent any further cases from emerging.
“As soon as we were informed on September 16 and subsequently on the 20th that two of our employees, independently of one another, had tested Covid-19 positive, we immediately put the only additional employee identified as a possible contact into isolation while awaiting their test result, which came back negative on September 21.”
She added that the site had been completely disinfected since the positive results and the measures the company had taken were designed to prevent the spread of the disease.