ONE of the city's biggest employers has confirmed a small outbreak of coronavirus among staff - but the company does not believe the virus was contracted on site.

It was confirmed on Wednesday that six members of staff at Worcester Bosch have tested positive for Covid and are self-isolating.

A spokesman at Worcester Bosch said: “We can confirm that six members of staff across our two Worcester sites have tested positive for Covid-19.

“Each have been following the current guidelines and have been self-isolating at home.

“Based on the evidence that we have, we do not believe that they contracted the virus on site. We wish them all a full recovery.

“We have been working closely with Public Health England as well as the Health and Safety Executive, who have routinely visited our headquarters and are satisfied with the procedures we have put in place.

“These procedures include education and training for all our staff who are unable to work from home, one-way walking systems in our buildings and a no visitor policy in place.

“Our headquarters has digital screens throughout the building with information on the latest social distancing guidelines as well as multiple hand sanitiser stations.

“All staff are required to always wear a face mask, and those who are experiencing symptoms are instructed not to enter company premises.”

This comes after it was revealed Worcester is in the top 10 areas in England where Covid cases are rising fastest.

The West Midlands has seen cases rise from 403.9 to 615.9 in just seven days.

Worcester’s infection rate was 750.8 cases per 100,000 people in the week up to January 7 - the highest it has ever been in the city.

A total of 760 cases were recorded in the city in the week and the infection rate increased by 88 per cent on the previous week.

Worcestershire’s infection rate was 557.4 cases per 100,000 people in the week up to January 7 - also the highest it has ever been.

A total of 3,321 cases were recorded in the week according to Public Health England.

Public Health England figures show that a total of 432 people were reported as testing positive for coronavirus in Worcestershire on January 12. Of those, a total of 91 people had tested positive for coronavirus in Worcester.