Amazon launches mass coronavirus tests at its Spanish logistics warehouses
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
- Amazon has announced it will launch mass testing for employees at its Spanish logistics centers.
- This will cut the chain of infections both in and outside work, center doctor Gianluca Manuli said.
- Amazon said it had spent $11.5 billion on COVID-19 related measures worldwide.
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Amazon has launched mass coronavirus testing in its Spanish logistics centers in the Madrid area and in Barcelona.
The aim is to cut the chain of infections, the company announced in a statement on Thursday, March 4.
Spain is the fourth country where the e-commerce giant is offering free, regular, and voluntary COVID-19 tests to its frontline workers.
The measure has already been rolled out in the US, UK, and Ireland.
"Above all, the aim is to detect the asymptomatic carriers and cut the chain of infections inside and outside of work," said Gianluca Manuli, a doctor at the Amazon logistics center in Barcelona.
Manuli added that there were a number of measures already in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including "strict social distancing, temperature monitoring, and wearing masks."
The company said 960 tests could be carried out every day at its Barcelona center and results will be available to employees within a few days and can be checked via an app.
"Our absolute priority is to create a safe environment and guarantee the privacy of the employees who are getting tested," Manuli said.
Drew Anthony Smith/Getty Images
By October, Amazon had detected more than 19,000 cases of COVID-19 among its employees at the company and the Amazon-owned Whole Foods.
In April, the delivery giant fired two employees who had been critical of the company's response to the pandemic, saying they had "violated internal policies."
During the pandemic, Amazon has made serious inroads into the healthcare sector and its sales boomed.
The company hired 133,000 new workers in the US and Canada and has also launched mail-in COVID-19 testing kits.
In June, CNBC reported Amazon was planning to test its warehouse employees every two weeks. Last week, it was reported that 24 employees at a Whole Foods store in Detroit had tested positive.
Last month, the company appointed its pharmacy executive Nader Kabbani to lead the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to over a million employees.
Over one million tests have now been processed at the Amazon testing lab in Kentucky from more than 700 testing sites, the company said in a statement released in February.
They also provided employees with an $80 benefit if they had to get the COVID-19 vaccine offsite and claimed they had invested $11.5 billion in COVID-19 related measures over the last year.
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