Victorian Superbug Outbreak at Amazon Coventry Warehouse Sparks Union Closure Demands

Victorian Superbug Outbreak at Amazon Coventry Warehouse Sparks Union Closure Demands

Union leaders have issued an urgent call for technology behemoth Amazon to immediately close its Coventry fulfilment centre after multiple employees tested positive for tuberculosis, a disease historically known as "consumption" that ravaged Victorian Britain.

Union Demands Immediate Shutdown Amid Health Crisis

The GMB union has formally written to Amazon executives demanding the temporary closure of the Coventry warehouse and the medical suspension of all staff on full pay until the health situation is fully resolved. Amanda Gearing, the GMB's Senior Organiser, stated emphatically that "Amazon is putting all workers, site visitors, and the local and wider communities at risk of exposure to a serious infectious disease." She warned that "Coventry Amazon risks becoming the engine room of a mass TB outbreak of a scale not seen for decades."

Amazon's Response and Historical Context

Amazon has confirmed that a "small number" of individuals at the Coventry site tested positive for TB last year. The company asserts that those affected responded well to treatment, are no longer infectious, and that no new cases have been identified. They maintain that the site "continues to run as normal" while following guidance from the UK Health Security Agency and the NHS.

This outbreak evokes the Victorian era, when tuberculosis was a devastating scourge. Between 1851 and 1910, TB caused an estimated four million deaths in England and Wales. Literary figures like Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell vividly described how the disease "wasted and withered" its victims in their works.

Rising TB Rates Threaten England's Low-Incidence Status

The warehouse incident occurs against a backdrop of increasing tuberculosis infections across England. Recent UKHSA data indicates a concerning trend:

• There were 5,490 TB notifications in England in 2024, marking a 13% increase from 4,831 in 2023.
• England's current TB notification rate stands at 9.4 per 100,000 people, just below the World Health Organisation's low-incidence threshold of 10 cases per 100,000.
• The UKHSA has warned that England could lose its low-incidence status, held since 2017, if rates continue to climb.

Worst-Hit Areas Revealed in National Data

Analysis of UKHSA statistics shows significant regional disparities, with 61 local authority areas in England exceeding the WHO low-incidence threshold. Coventry, where the Amazon warehouse is located, has an average annual TB notification rate of 19.9 per 100,000 people over the past three years, nearly double the threshold.

Other areas with notably high rates include:

1. Leicester: 42.1 notifications per 100,000
2. Newham: 41.4 notifications per 100,000
3. Brent: 39.1 notifications per 100,000
4. Harrow: 35.0 notifications per 100,000
5. Ealing: 33.6 notifications per 100,000

These figures underscore the growing public health challenge posed by tuberculosis, a disease many believed was consigned to history. The situation at the Amazon warehouse highlights the ongoing need for vigilance and proactive measures to prevent wider outbreaks.