Coronavirus: Sainsbury's hits back over staff criticism

As previously reported by The Gazette, four members of staff are in self-isolation after one worker tested positive for the disease.

Numerous employees contacted this newspaper after feeling “let down” by management who they claim failed to tell them about the case.

Workers said they were threatened with “disciplinary action” if they spoke out and were told to “keep quiet”.

Read more: Four staff in isolation after coronavirus case at Kempshott Sainsbury's

Sainsbury’s has issued a statement describing the article as “misleading” but did not deny that staff were told to keep quiet.

Workers also raised concerns about whether the store was able to be deep cleaned following the positive test.

The Gazette asked Sainsbury’s for further details about the deep cleaning process.

Responding to the criticism, a spokesperson said: “The reports in this article are extremely misleading and do not reflect the robust range of measures we have in place in all our stores to keep colleagues and customers safe.”

“Safety is our highest priority and we have strict social distancing measures in all our stores as well as additional cleaning, hand sanitiser stations, Perspex screens and PPE for all our colleagues. We continue to support Test and Trace and remain in close contact with them.”

The number of recorded coronavirus cases in Hampshire increased by 28 over the last 24 hours, official figures show.

Public Health England figures show that 5,579 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Friday (September 11) in Hampshire, up from 5,551 the same time on Thursday.

The rate of infection in Hampshire now stands at 404 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 555.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 3,539 over the period, to 361,677.

​Hampshire's cases were among the 39,603 recorded across the South East, a figure which rose by 225 over the period.