STA, 4 January 2020 - A number of large companies have started their operations on Monday by testing their employees for coronavirus. Some are performing tests in-house, others are referring workers to health centres, where rapid tests are available throughout the country as of today.
The Slovenjska Bistrica-based aluminium producer Impol has so far tested nearly 760 staff at its headquarters, with just three coming back positive. Impol employs some 1,400 people in Slovenia.
The company said that in the future, rapid testing would be used in individual company units if a positive case is detected. So far, 231 employees have recovered from the virus across the entire group.
TBP, the Lenart-based producer of push-pull bowden cables and plastics, has reserved at the local health centre several time slots when its employees can get tested this week.
The company, which employs some 1,000 people in a region with high Covid-19 incidence, expects the number of infections to increase following the holidays.
Hydro plant operator Dravske Elektrarne Maribor (DEM) started sending its employees for rapid tests in health centres in the previous days. So far none has tested positive. Since the start of the epidemic, 30 of its 240 employees have recovered, while there are currently six active infections.
Ice-cream maker Incom has launched in-house testing which will also be available to employees of other companies, the head of the Ajdovščina civil protection Igor Benko told the STA on Monday.
Cement manufacturer Salonit Anhovo will be testing its staff until Wednesday. First up were production employees and maintenance personnel.
The state-owned power utility Holding Slovenske Elektrarne (HSE) said it has been providing rapid tests since mid-December. Rapid tests are now also available to employees of drug maker Krka.
Adria Mobil, the caravan maker, said more than 1,000 of its employees were tested this morning, this includes the entire morning shift and management. A ten-member team will also test the afternoon shift. So far, 19 people have tested positive.
Container maker Arcont, based in Gornja Radgona, said it would launch testing for employees on Tuesday, while Varis, the Lendava-based maker of prefabricated bathrooms, said it tested all of its 250 employees this morning, with only one testing positive. The company is also testing all others who want to enter its premises.
