Forty six workers have been identified as having Covid-19 during testing at a food factory near Deal.

Two workers at Tilmanstone Salads died last week and scores of its 900 workers have had to take time off having either tested positive or for being in contact with colleagues who had.

On site testing was brought into place on Monday and Tuesday and has identified 46 colleagues tested positive on those days, of which 35 were full time employees.

A statement released by Bakkavor, which owns Tilmanstone Salads in Eythorne, said today: "These colleagues, who were all asymptomatic, were notified promptly and are self-isolating."

Bakkavor came under fire by unions last week for not paying employees sick pay as the virus coursed through the factory in Millyard Way.

The company, which provides salads for Marks and Spencer (M&S) added: "To support our colleagues at this difficult time, we introduced enhanced pay for Covid-19 absence as of December 4.

"All employees will receive their contractual salary for any Covid-19 related absence for a minimum period of 14 days.

"Mass-testing will result in more cases initially, however this process will also support a reduction in the transmission of the virus..."

"This includes absence due to Covid-19 symptoms confirmed by a positive test or any absence due to self-isolation resulting from close contact identified through our internal track and trace or through NHS Test & Trace."

The statement did not specify whether these payments will be made to agency staff with the virus or who have to isolate as a result of being in contact with a confirmed positive worker. The company has not answered our question about this.

Infection figures are released by Bakkavor twice a week.

On Tuesday, December 1 figures showed 70 workers tested positive and 69 were isolating.

On December 2 figures revealed 65 colleagues were off work having tested positive and an additional 68 were self isolating.

By the start of this week (Monday), this number had fallen to 48 colleagues off work with a positive test result.

Bakkavor hasn't said whether the 46 positive cases identified during testing is in addition to the 48 who were off on Monday. The number of people in isolation has not been released either.

The GMB Union claimed last Tuesday that cases more than doubled from 35 in the third week of the month to 79 by the end of the month. Bakkavor hasn't confirmed those numbers.

At the time the second death was confirmed Bakkavor said the member of staff had been away from the workplace since November 11 and reported in for sick leave following a period of annual leave.

The GMB then demanded workers get paid for any time they have to take off work because of the outbreak there, describing it as the single most effective way to halt the spread among workers who need the money to survive.

It also criticised Bakkavor for not closing the factory to allow for adequate cleaning.

The company maintains it has always followed the advice of Public Health England (PHE) South East which it was working closely with alongside Kent County Council.

Philip West, Business Director, Salads, at Bakkavor comments: “In recent weeks we have lost two of our Tilmanstone team to Covid-19, a tragedy that has hit us all hard.

"This site is in a top tier Covid zone and as a community we are all working hard to limit the spread of this terrible virus and to follow PHE guidelines fully in and out of the workplace.

“I would like to thank our colleagues for their incredibly strong support for the on-site testing programme and we will continue to support those colleagues isolating at home.

"As with the national picture, any scenario of mass-testing will result in more cases initially, however this process will also support a reduction in the transmission of the virus.

"We continue to work closely with PHE South East on next steps and to ensure the safety of the site for our staff."

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