Sainsbury’s staff were told to keep quiet and threatened with disciplinaries if they discussed a coronavirus case, it has been claimed.

Sources have raised concerns with how the supermarket has handled a recent case at Kempshott in Basingstoke.

Speaking to The Gazette, one employee said: “The employee [diagnosed with coronavirus] was really suffering, it wasn’t their fault at all. They came in with symptoms on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week. He decided to get a test as he was feeling unwell.

“He got the results back on Monday and that’s when he went off sick.

“None of the staff were told apart from management. We have people with lung conditions and all sorts of health problems.”

“We’ve been told to keep quiet about it.”

Another employee said they had been threatened with disciplinaries if they spoke out. 

One worker cast doubt over Sainsbury’s official statement where they said they undertook a deep clean of the store.  

“As far as I’m aware, no one has seen them do a deep clean. It would be almost impossible to clean all of the thousands of totes that the food is transported in.

“Only managers are self-isolating but none of the staff have been told. They’ve been told the managers are on holiday.”

Sources said that management felt their “hands were tied” by the policy set by head office which allegedly prohibits them from discussing coronavirus cases due to confidentiality.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “The reports in this article are extremely misleading and do not reflect the robust range of measures we have in place in all our stores to keep colleagues and customers safe.”

“Safety is our highest priority and we have strict social distancing measures in all our stores as well as additional cleaning, hand sanitiser stations, Perspex screens and PPE for all our colleagues. We continue to support Test and Trace and remain in close contact with them.”