A 海角视频 food manufacturing giant has confirmed an outbreak of Covid-19 at its cake factory in Wiltshire.
Bakkavor Desserts, which is headquartered in London and has sites around the 海角视频 including in Nottingham and Nantwich, said 13 staff at Hopton Industrial Estate in Devizes had now tested positive for the virus.
The listed company said it had responded to the outbreak by putting in place control measures based on Government, Public Health England and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance.
“The health and safety of our colleagues has and always will be our foremost priority,” a spokesperson for Bakkavor Desserts Devizes said.
“As soon as Covid-19 started to threaten our colleagues, visitors and sites, we developed a Coronavirus Management Strategy based on specific Covid-19 risk assessments.”
Bakkavor said measures included enhanced handwashing, social distancing, screens, visors, temperature screening, touch-point cleaning and self-certification on being fit to work.
The news of the outbreak comes amid reports a 68-year-old man who worked at the Devizes site reportedly died at Great Western Hospital of coronavirus in April.
According to the Wiltshire Times , Bakkavor said it did not report the death at the time because it allegedly believed this was the responsibility of the hospital.
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Kate Blackburn, director of public health at Wiltshire Council, said Bakkavor was following correct reporting procedures and had “very good control measures” in place.
“The council does not receive personal details of deaths from Public Health England and there would be no requirement for their employer to contact us unless there was a concern raised for us to address," she said.
She said the council was "working closely" with staff at Bakkavor in the town and also Public Health England.
“We believe Bakkavor have followed the correct Covid-secure measures throughout the pandemic and we continue to work with them closely to ensure the current outbreak is contained," Ms Blackburn added.
Bakkavor, which has remained open during the pandemic, said due to the nature of its business it "already had high standards” of hygiene as well as good manufacturing practice and handwashing in place.
The Bakkavor spokesperson added: “With the easing of the lockdown, people are socialising and travelling more in their free time, therefore every business is exposed to some element of risk that staff members will test positive for Covid-19.
“We are working hard to stress to all our 540 colleagues at the site to be equally careful outside of work to control the transmission of the virus.
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“Public Health has been and continue to be very supportive of the measures we have taken.
“As a responsible food manufacturing business, we will continue to be disciplined in our approach to this pandemic with the health and safety of our colleagues at the forefront of this.”
Wiltshire Council said it wanted to “reassure people” living and working in the county that although it expected more “small outbreaks” in future - measures were in place to control infection rates.
Ms Blackburn added: “We have robust mechanisms in place to contain the infection and protect the health of the local community.”