Coronavirus: 20,000 retail and construction workers to be tested starting Monday

With the easing of restrictions and return to work on Monday, the health ministry is organising a third round of sampling consisiting of 20,000 tests for workers in retail and construction, it announced on Saturday.

Sampling will start on May 4 and will be completed on May 25. The laboratories participating in this Program are listed in the attached table .

More specifically, 14,000 of the 20,000 laboratory tests are aimed at employees in retail businesses, and 6,000 in the construction sector.

1. Employees in retail businesses

  • Employees of retail beverage and food companies are excluded from the programme .
  • The program concerns employees who are employed in positions that have direct contact with the public service , such as sellers and cashiers.
  • Depending on the number of people a company employs the programme will go as fillows:
    • In companies with up to 3 employees, 1 person will be considered for testing.
    • In companies with up to 10 employees, 3 people will be considered.
    • In businesses with more than 10 and less than 30 employees, 6 people will be considered, and
    • In businesses with more than 30 people, 10 people will be considered.
    • The appointments will be arranged upon request by the companies and not by personal appointments and the management of the company will have to fill in the ” COVID-19 Sampling Request Form ” and send it to the laboratory of its choice.

2. Workers on construction sites

  • The control of construction site workers will be done in two ways, as follows:
    • 3,000 samplings will be done using mobile units on site
    • For the remaining 3,000, appointments will be arranged at sampling centres designated by each laboratory and listed in the relevant table above.
    • Workshops will be informed by Wednesday, May 6 about the list of construction sites that will be included in the programme as well as the number of people to be examined per site.
    • For companies that will not be included in the sampling by mobile unit, the appointments will be arranged at the request of the companies and not on a personal employee level. The company’s management will have to fill in the ” COVID-19 Sampling Request Form ” and to send it to the laboratory of their choice.

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