Outbreak in a contact tracing center in Scotland
Image Credit: dailyrecord.co.uk
An outbreak has been reported in Motherwell contact tracing centre. Around 6 people were found to be positive for the virus. Sitel, who owns the contact tracing center, said that it is currently investigating the outbreak. This site is one of the centers used for contact tracing for the NHS.
This comes after The Independent reported yesterday, that the coronavirus test and trace service is failing to trace around 52% of close contacts, named by the infected individuals. This leaked analysis led to one senior source to say that, ‘The contact tracing service is not part of the problem we are trying to solve, not the solution.’
The Deputy Minister, John Swinney said on BBC Radio Good Morning Scotland, that the alarm was raised on Sunday at 8am. In response, an ‘extensive contact tracing’ is in progress.
Sitel has urged all of its employees to test themselves within the next 24 hours, and asked all of their staff to work from home. The company spokesman said in a statement that, ‘We take the safety and wellbeing of our staff very seriously.’
A worker in the Motherwell contact tracing center said, ‘There’s like half a desk between each desk for social distancing but at break and lunch, everyone sits at the same tables and we all walk out the same door.’
‘There’s one social distancing ambassador but I’ve not seen him for weeks- I think he’s on holiday.’
‘It’s not been organized well at all. You can wear mask and gloves if you like but in all honesty, I’ve only seen one woman doing it the whole time.’
‘They’ve put hand sanitisers on the wall but I don’t think they’ve been filled up since I started there in February and I think they’ve been the same ones since then.’ the whistleblower said.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said, ‘Contact centres, like Sitel in Lanarkshire, have been named and shamed for their treatment of staff, when many of them could have worked from home.’
On Sunday, Scotland reported 23 new cases. As of today, Scotland reported 18,422 cases and 2,491 deaths.
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