Coronavirus: Newark factory workers to be tested after cases spike

Food firm Bakkavor has seen a spike in positive coronavirus cases in recent days

A dessert factory is to test its entire workforce following a spike in coronavirus cases in the last two days.

Bakkavor in Newark, Nottinghamshire has seen the number of staff test positive rise from 20 to 39 on Friday.

Nottinghamshire County Council said the spike was a "cause of some concern" and now all 1,600 staff will be tested.

The company, which makes desserts for Waitrose and Tesco, said it had worked with health experts to put in strict safety measures.

Jonathan Gribbin, Nottinghamshire's director of public health, said: "We know Bakkavor has very good controls in place, they have acted very responsibly with us in public health, but we know the most significant risk residents face is out in the community and not in the workplace.

"We are focused on preventing [a local lockdown] and the only way we can avoid that is if everybody abides by the precautions and guidance; social distancing, wearing face coverings, and if you have to share a car that you follow the precautions."

He said testing would be carried out at the factory for a week from Wednesday.

Bakkavor said it had communicated to staff the dangers of car sharing and the need for social distancing

Shona Taylor, business director at Bakkavor, said an additional 50 employees were self-isolating after being in contact with a colleague who tested positive, and vehicles leaving the site were being checked to ensure staff were wearing face coverings if sharing cars.

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The company has also translated posters and messages into other languages.

"We do have a large demographic of Eastern European colleagues, a large number of them are Polish and we try to use interpreters to make sure people understand what we're trying to communicate," Ms Taylor added.

A testing site for members of the public is also being set up from Monday at the Newark and Sherwood District Council building.

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