Valyou Supermarket in Naxxar disinfected after storekeeper contracts COVID-19

Valyou Supermarket and an underlying warehouse in Naxxar have been fumigated after a storekeeper tested positive for COVID-19, the company said.

The sanitisation procedure was carried out under the direction of the Superintendence for Public Health, the company said in a statement. The employee worked in the warehouse but the disinfection process included also the supermarket as a precautionary measure.

The health authorities this week had confirmed that a supermarket employee, unrelated to the Lidl case, had contracted the virus and the individual worked in the stores with no direct contact with customers. The name of the supermarket was not divulged at the time but media reports indicated it was Valyou in Naxxar.

The company said that the worker was a storekeeper and never came in contact with customers on the shopfloor. Storekeepers who came in contact with the man have been put on mandatory quarantine, with suppliers being advised of the situation. 

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On Sunday, the worker did not turn up for work after complaining of stomach pains. He subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 and did not turn up for work since.

The worker had displayed no symptoms, and did not have any fever before Sunday.

The supermarket chain said that it was one of the first to implement measures to safeguard from the coronavirus, with the temperature of employees being taken before they came into work. 

“In addition, the supermarket also implemented a number of crowd control measures including on-site security, sanitisers at each entrance, as well as floor stickers and signage indicating the adequate social distance to keep from one another, amongst other measures,” the company statement read.