New York: Amazon has said that about 20,000 of its workers working in the US are infected with or suspected of being infected with the Corona Virus.
The online retail company, Amazon, stating the number of infected for the first time, said that the rate of infection among its workers is generally lower than the American population. Amazon workers and labor groups were pressurizing the company to reveal the number of people infected with Covid-19.
Amazon stated in a corporate blog that it has revealed this number as part of its efforts to provide information to its workers. The company said, “We expect other large companies to release detailed information about the number of infected, because doing so will help us all.”
He said, “This is an area where companies need to help each other, not to rival.” The company said that it released the number after estimating the data from March 1 to September 19 in the US in the ‘Amazon and Whole Foods Market’ with 13 lakh 70 thousand workers.
Amazon said the number of cases were 42% lower than an estimate of 33,952, previously based on analysis of the Amazon and Whole Foods Market workforce against the general population rate.
The company also said it is conducting “thousands” of tests each day and plans to expand the rate to 50,000 per day at 650 sites by the end of this month.
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There have been at least eight confirmed COVID-19 deaths among Amazon workers this year, but the company did not include deaths in its report.
Labor groups, politicians and regulators have been calling for the retail giant to disclose its COVID-19 figures among its workforce.
Amazon previously declined to specify the numbers, suggesting they would be misleading and lack context. Thursday, it said the number of cases would be “more powerful” if other companies shared similar data.
“We hope other large companies will also release their detailed learnings and case rates because doing so will help all of us,” Amazon said. “This is not an arena where companies should compete — this is an arena where companies should help one another.”
