Deliveries cancelled after Woolworths worker tests COVID-19 positive

FIRST with NEIL MITCHELL

It’s expected hundreds of Woolworths online orders were cancelled after a staff member tested positive to coronavirus.

As first reported by Neil Mitchell, customers were emailed yesterday to tell them their groceries weren’t arriving because a worker in Woolworths’ ‘customer fulfilment centre’ in West Footscray tested positive on Saturday.

The packaging facility was shut down and deep-cleaned across Saturday and Sunday “as a precautionary measure”.

The staff member, who did not display symptoms while at work, has isolated, along with any close contacts, none of whom have tested positive nor shown symptoms.

The centre re-opened this morning.

“We will continue to ensure all relevant health and safety measures are in place regarding testing and social distancing to protect our team members,” Woolworths said in a statement.

“It is our understanding that the cancelled orders were a small number, in the hundreds, and represented approximately 20 per cent of this morning’s online orders in Melbourne overall.”

FULL STATEMENT FROM WOOLWORTHS

We have been notified by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services that a team member in our Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) in West Footscray has tested positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The health and safety of our team members is our top priority. 

 We’re continuing to make contact with our CFC team members and will provide our full support to those required to self-isolate at home in line with the advice from the Health Department.

As a food retailer, we have very high standards of cleaning and hygiene across all our sites. 

As a precautionary measure the CFC received a detailed deep clean overnight on 4th and 5th July.

As a result of the additional clean on Sunday night we cancelled online delivery orders out of the West Footscray CFC this morning. We would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience.

We will continue to ensure all relevant health and safety measures are in place regarding testing and social distancing to protect our team members.