Two more Woolworths workers test positive for coronavirus

Employees of two Woolworths outlets in Melbourne have tested positive to coronavirus.

One employee at the retailer’s produce distribution centre in Mulgrave, southeast of the city, last worked on Thursday, while the other worked out of the adjacent national distribution centre on Sunday last week.

Their positive results came through on Friday, with the supermarket giant waiting on advice from Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on how to proceed.

“While the risk of transmission to other team members at these sites is low given the social distancing and hygiene controls we have in place, the safety of our team is our top priority,” a spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia.

“We’re informing our DC team members about both cases and will provide our full support to anyone required to self-isolate in line with advice from the DHHS.

“At this stage, we don’t believe either team member came into close contact with anyone else at these sites but our investigations are ongoing.”

The spokesperson said detailed cleaning was being executed in all high touch areas within both centres four times every day in an effort to reduce the risk posed to staff.

“As an extra precautionary measure, we have completed a deep clean of all manual handling equipment, headsets, the lunchroom and other shared facilities,” they said.

“We will also continue to offer proactive voluntary COVID tests to team members at both sites.”

Both distribution centres will remain open and “continue to dispatch deliveries to stores as normal”.

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Victoria recorded more than 400 new cases of the virus on Friday, the biggest daily increase in the country since the pandemic began.

The positive case in the produce centre worker was detected through daily voluntary COVID-19 testing being conducted at both sites.

All workers entering the facilities are subject to thermal imaging temperature checks, and nurses have been deployed to Melbourne distribution centres to oversee preventative measures.

Non-essential personnel have also been banned from entering sites unless they’re directly involved in operations or providing essential repairs to equipment.

Woolworths’ Werribee supermarket, southwest Melbourne, was closed for cleaning last week after a worker tested positive to the virus.

This was days after a staff member from the West Footscray Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC), in the inner west, tested positive.

A week earlier, 50 staff members were forced to self isolate after a Woolworths employee at a Sydney store worked while infectious.

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