Winery from south Moldova rules to carry out massive testing of employees for COVID-19

Chisinau, 25 April MOLDPRES/ - The Etulia winery, part of the Bostavan group of wineries, has ruled to massively test all its employees, in order to identify, isolate and take care of all cases of infection with COVID-19.

”In the spirit of the social responsibility and concern for the well-being of the communities where we work, we will inform the media and the wide public about the results of our actions. We want to assure you that we will prove maximal transparency, placing the health of our communities above the false comfort from the attempt to minimize the publicizing of this case,’’ reads a press release of the institution.   

According to the quoted source, on 17 April, an employee of the winery was hospitalized with suspicions of COVID-19. The employee was after a quarantine period, following the return from a personal travel abroad and has not worked at the Etulia winery since 1 April. As a result of efforts made to detect the contacts, four additional employees were hospitalized on 18 and 19 April. All the four employees worked at the winery till 16 April. After identifying the first cases of contamination, decision-makers ruled to carry out immediate testing of the entire staff of the winery and their families. To this end, the services of a private laboratory were contracted and the tests were made at the expense of the winery.     

On 21 April, immediately after the Easter week-end, the institution issued a communiqué for detailing the case, informing about intention to massively test all employees of the winery and their families. Thus, 174 people were tested on 21-23 April – employees and their family members, of whom 77 proved to be infected. Most of these people – 68 – were reported to be asymptomatic (83 per cent) or to have light symptoms (5 per cent), being isolated at home. At present, 9 (12 per cent) employees and their families’ members were hospitalized, of whom 6 people are with sequential symptoms and 3 persons prove a high level of seriousness.      

The massive testing of employees will continue on the days to come, in order to be able to isolate and take care of the positive cases.

Bostavan Wineries Group is one of the leaders of the vine-growing and wine-making industry and one of the biggest exporters of Moldova. In 2019, the concerned group of wineries transferred about 46 million lei to the state budget.