8:10am Friday 10th July 2009
By Richard Vernalls
FIVE cases of swine flu have been confirmed at one of Worcester’s largest employers.
The cases at Bosch Thermotechnology, Warndon Villages, were confirmed over “the past few weeks” according to a company spokesman.
There is also one unconfirmed case of the virus.
The information came in an internal memo from the firm’s director of human resources Catherine Wilson which explained to workers that closing any part of production would do nothing to prevent the virus spreading.
Worcestershire’s health chiefs have now accepted the virus cannot be contained using antiviral drugs and have moved to the treatment phase.
The memo said three of the cases were with external employees and three were based at the Worcester site in Cotswold Way, where about 1,150 people are employed.
“We are taking regular advice from the Health Protection Agency, NHS, and the World Health Orgnisation and we have been informed there are no health requirements to close any of our operations,” it added.
Staff at the firm – part of the Worcester Bosch Group, were also given advice on what symptoms to look for and to call their GP or NHS Direct on 0845 4647 if they suspect infection. Medical advice to people with flu-like symptoms remains not to visit doctors or go to hospital.
An employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was worried when he read the memo, included with his payslip.
“Obviously, it could spread,” he said. However, Carl Arntzen, company director, said employees’ safety was highest priority.
“We have taken precautions to ensure the impact of swine flu is kept to a minimum and that all our employees are informed about the disease,” he said.
So far in Worcestershire 80,000 courses of Tamiflu have been delivered to cope with the virus. On Monday, Worcestershire had 105 new cases.
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