Bakkafrost offers regular COVID-19 screening for all employees

17.04.2020

Starting from Monday 20th April 2020, Bakkafrost will give all the employees in the Faroe Islands the opportunity every second week to be tested for free for COVID-19. This screening is part of the continuous work to ensure that Bakkafrost is a safe and secure place to work, while it also serves the scientific research purpose to gain more knowledge about COVID-19 using a well-defined population. Furthermore, with this initiative, Bakkafrost supports the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to test as much as possible to prevent further spread of the Coronavirus.

The screening is made possible through the collaboration with Pál Weihe, physician and professor in public health, and the Faroese Health System.

- This is a good initiative that serves two main purposes. Firstly, to secure the operations of Bakkafrost. Secondly, the regular testing of a relatively big population will function as a good shield against a spread of the coronavirus in the Faroe Islands, says Pál Weihe in a statement on the project.

The plan is that all employees are offered COVID-19 screening conducted by health professionals every second week over a two-month period. In total, each employee will be offered four rounds of screening with a two-week interval.

The tests will be sent to the Faroese Food and Veterinary Authorities for analysis, and the results will be sent to Pál Weihe and the Faroese Department of Occupational and Public Health, who file them as health information for further research.

Employees, who test positive, will be contacted immediately.