Jun 22nd, 2021
4 mins
If you become aware of a positive case in the workplace, please report it to the NHS Test&Trace and identify contacts in the workplace to start the mandatory self-isolation period as soon as possible. Please call the Self-Isolation Service Hub on 020 3743 6715 as soon as you have been made aware of any positive cases.
• If anyone develops symptoms of COVID-19 in the business or workplace they should be sent home and advised to follow the stay at home guidance and seek a PCR test.
• An outbreak is defined as 2 or more test-confirmed positive cases over a 14-day period. In this case contact the local public health team who will complete a risk assessment and give recommendations and then move to manage the outbreak.
• The health protection team will request basic background information on your staff including numbers, shift patterns and rotas, details of your site and information on measures in place such as social distancing, hand hygiene and cohorting.
• Outbreak management advice is available on gov.uk and includes information from FSA, a PHE toolkit on prevention, and how to deal with an outbreak. This has been shared with local health protection and environmental health teams.
• A key finding is that a lot of transmission is happening in the home environment-outside the workplace. Therefore, please consider relevant factors, such as upholding social distancing rules in transport to the workplace or shared accommodations in your risk assessment to prevent and contain positive cases.
• To suppress the spread of the Delta variant, and break chains of transmission enhanced support package have recently been announced. This includes additional support including surge testing, tracing, isolation support and maximising vaccine uptake, will be rapidly deployed in areas designated as needing enhanced support. You can find out whether your business can access financial support by following this link.
• You can find the relevant resources, including a guidance on Covid-19 in food sector settings, below:
Guidance for food businesses
