Bakkafrost offers Faroes staff fortnightly Covid-19 tests

The company, which owns the Scottish Salmon Company, said the screening is part of continuous work to ensure that Bakkafrost is a safe and secure place to work, while also serving the scientific research purpose of gaining more knowledge about Covid-19 using a well-defined population.

The initiative is in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to test as much as possible to prevent further spread of coronavirus.

A good shield

Bakkafrost said the screening is being made possible through 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,” said Weihe in a statement on the project.

All employees will be offered Covid-19 screening conducted by health professionals every second week over a two-month period, meaning that each employee will be offered four rounds of screening in total.

Research

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

Employees who test positive will be contacted immediately.

The Faroe Islands has so far tested 5,677 people, more than 10% of its population of 52,100. Of those, 185 tested positive for the virus, and no one on the archipelago has died of Covid-19.