SHIPYARD bosses have revealed that staff who worked in closest proximity to a worker who tested positive for coronavirus have now tested negative.

A small group of staff who worked in the same workshop as a someone found to have contracted the virus were re-tested as a precaution.

Their tests have since come back as negative.

BAE has introduced a regular programme of testing as it attempts to bring back thousands of workers to the site.

The manual worker was said to have been the first of nearly 6,000 staff tested in the last five weeks to read positive for Covid-19.

According to BAE bosses, the contractor, one of 2,500 working at the site, was asymptomatic for the virus and not from Cumbria.

He was also said to have been working in full protective equipment and not in any close proximity to any others.

Nevertheless, a small group of workers were offered new tests for the virus as a precaution following the positive test from their colleague.

Shipyard bosses carried out contact tracing for the contractor who was confirmed to have caught the virus on Wednesday.

BAE hopes under the system the shipyard will be kept virus free, protecting the families of workers as well as the town. Bringing workers back to the site is said to be crucial for the recovery and sustainability of the company.

Testing kits will be sent to employees’ home addresses with detailed instructions of how to carry out the nasal swab procedure.

Cumbria's public health director previously praised BAE for acting swiftly following the confirmed case.

Public health director Colin Cox said he had worked closely with BAE in managing potential transmissions among shipyard staff, as the company announced plans to test workers on a mass scale.

He said: “We have been working closely with BAE Systems on their plans for managing Covid-19 in their workforce."

He praised how the shipyard had notified Cumbria's public health team following the tests and followed up contacts i'n a matter of hours after the positive result'.