Coronavirus outbreak at Wakefield 999 call centre

The outbreak has been confirmed at the Emergency Operations Centre of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in Wakefield

A coronavirus outbreak has been confirmed at a 999 call handling centre in West Yorkshire.

A Unison union source said it was understood about 19 Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) staff in Wakefield had tested positive.

However the service would not comment on the number of people affected by the outbreak.

YAS said it had assistance for 999 call handling from a centre in York and other ambulance trusts.

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In a statement, YAS said: "We can confirm that there has been an outbreak of Covid-19 amongst some staff at Yorkshire Ambulance Service's Emergency Operations Centre in Wakefield, where 999 calls are taken.

"We have robust infection prevention and control measures in place to manage this outbreak, in line with national guidance, and we are working closely with local public health experts.

"We have taken steps to support the resilience of our Emergency Operations Centre and additional assistance is available for 999 call handling from our York facility and other ambulance trusts through mutual aid arrangements."

YAS said callers would be asked the same questions as usual and where an emergency ambulance was required in the Yorkshire and Humber region it would be dispatched from Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

The Unison source said the only information available to the union was that there had been about 19 people who had tested positive for the virus, but there were no figures provided for the number of people working at the site or how many other staff were self-isolating.

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