Royal Mail depot in East Renfrewshire hit by coronavirus outbreak

Members of staff who tested positive have been ordered to isolate at home for two weeks.

Royal Mail bosses said the depot, next to The Avenue shopping centre, has continued to operate as normal, with mail deliveries unaffected.

A spokeswoman added: “Seven people have recently tested positive for coronavirus at the Newton Mearns Delivery Office. They are now recuperating at home and we wish them a speedy recovery.

“We have carried out an intensive clean of the site and have organised additional cleaning of key touch-points and all communal areas.

“We are keeping the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and colleagues updated.

“We are currently processing mail as usual at our Newton Mearns Delivery Office, which is open as normal.”

It’s understood the seven delivery centre workers alerted colleagues after they first showed coronavirus symptoms. A testing centre is located half-a-mile from the depot in Greenlaw Road.

Members of the public are normally able to visit the depot and speak to staff as they collect undelivered mail.

Royal Mail, however, insists that no-one was in any danger from the outbreak.

The spokeswoman added: “Every decision we make puts the health of our people and customers first.

“We have put in place a range of preventive measures to protect both our customers and our colleagues.

“We are temporarily not handing over our hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures.

“As well as encouraging good hand hygiene, standard ways of working have been revised to ensure that colleagues maintain appropriate social distancing at all times.

“All staff have been briefed about the social distancing measures jointly agreed by local management and the CWU.

“This has been supplemented with visible reminders such as posters and one-way floor markings.”