OTTAWA – Canadian authorities yesterday ordered an Amazon warehouse to close and its 5,000 employees to self-isolate after a Covid-19 outbreak.
Public health officials said workers at the tech giant’s Brampton facility north of Toronto are required “to self-isolate for two weeks effective 12.01am March 13, 2021”.
“Over the past few weeks, the rate of Covid-19 infections across (the region) has been decreasing, while the rate inside this facility has been increasing significantly,” said a statement from health officials for the regional municipality of Peel.
Only staff who have tested negative in the last 90 days and already completed their isolation are exempt from the quarantine order.
The “difficult decision” to shutter the massive warehouse, said medical officer Lawrence Loh, is “a necessary one to stop further spread both in the facility and across our community”.
A spokesman for the regional public health authority told AFP that more than 600 workers at the warehouse have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, including about 240 in recent weeks.
Amazon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Toronto warehouses have been hit particularly hard by outbreaks, according to reports, which led to an inspection blitz last month.
It found that 43% of the 208 facilities visited were not compliant with health and safety requirements.
Ontario province has been hammered by the pandemic, recording as of yesterday almost 315,000 infections, including more than 7,100 deaths.
In total, Canada has surpassed 900,000 cases and 22,000 deaths. – AFP, March 13, 2021
