Canadian authorities on Friday ordered an Amazon warehouse to shut and for its 5,000 staff to self-isolate after a Covid-19 outbreak. Public well being officers stated employees on the tech large’s Brampton facility north of Toronto have been required to “to self-isolate for two weeks effective 12:01 a.m. March 13, 2021.”
“Over the past few weeks, the rate of Covid-19 infection across (the region) has been decreasing while the rate inside this facility has been increasing significantly,” stated an announcement from well being officers for the regional municipality of Peel.
Only employees who had examined optimistic within the final 90 days and already accomplished their isolation have been exempt from the quarantine order.
The “difficult decision” to shutter the huge warehouse, stated medical officer of well being Lawrence Loh, was “a necessary one to stop further spread both in the facility and across our community.”
A spokesperson for the regional public well being authority informed AFP greater than 600 employees on the warehouse had examined optimistic for Covid-19 because the begin of the pandemic, together with about 240 in current weeks.
Amazon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Toronto space warehouses have been hit significantly onerous by Covid-19 outbreaks, in accordance to stories, which led to an inspection blitz final month.
It discovered that 43 % of the 208 warehouses visited weren’t compliant with well being and security necessities.
Canada’s Ontario province has been hammered by the pandemic, recording as of Friday nearly 315,000 Covid-19 infections, together with greater than 7,100 deaths.
In whole Canada has surpassed 900,000 circumstances and 22,000 deaths.
